To Stir With Love
by shirosagi
Summary: Charlie, determined to find her father after not seeing him for over 14 years, is shocked by the differences between the Tacoma and Charming charters, and soon becomes wrapped up in the fast pace life style of SAMCRO. Charlie quickly is torn between returning home or staying in Charming, and getting to know her father as well as a certain someone. Juice/OC
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone! This is my first fanfiction ever and I hope that it turn's out. Please review and add any helping tip's you would like. This is a, as stated, a prologue to the actual series and set's up how Charlie is affiliated with the son's. I have some idea's on how I would like this to go and I hope that it stay's interesting for everyone. This first part even has John Teller in it! Here is the beginning of Charlie's story...  
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**_[1991]_**

**[John Teller's PoV]**

The sound of a gavel banging echoed through the room, "Today were voting, as you know, in a new member. He's hailing from our brothers to the north and with the war going on with the Mayan's well we need more bodies at this table... Bring him in," I announced to my fellow members. Hushed whisper's filled the room about Dustin Manning and why he needed a charter change when the chapel door opened and in walked a medium-sized, rather built, brown-haired and tanned skin man. Shutting the door behind him, Dustin walked to one of the free seats to the side of the room where guest's sat when in the SAMCRO chapel.

"Hey guys... I'm Dustin Manning. I'm originally from the Tacoma charter but recently went Nomad. I hope to have a long life here in Charming and with SAMCRO..." introduced Dustin. I knew there was an air of mystery about Dustin since he hadn't really introduced much about himself, but he didn't seem like anything dangerous. Dustin had been around the club the last couple of days getting to know the guys. and I hoped that it would be enough to get votes.

"Our brother here has recently moved to Charming, needing a change in life, and was looking to return to a charter, a family..." I explained to everyone, "All in favour of voting in Manning say Aye."

Around the table multiple 'aye's' were announced from all current members, I was proud of them as they open upped their club to him. Finally I spoke, "Aye... Well it's unanimous, welcome to SAMCRO, brother." A roar of cheers went around as Dustin was given his SAMCRO patches and I banged the gavel once more, indicating that a decision was made. Handshakes and brotherly hug's ensued as a place was made at the table for Dustin.

The club meeting was short just the basic update on the current issue's and a reminder that club fee's were due in one week, but as soon as the meeting was over we all filled out into the club house where the 'patch-in' party began, prepared by Gemma. Tonight was a needed night considering what had gone on lately with the Mayan's. I watched Dustin mingle and was sure that he would fit right in. I sipped my beer as I sat at the bar and surveyed my brothers when Piney came over and took up the seat beside me.

"Dusting Manning. You think there's more to him than we know?" Piney asked. Piney was a cautious person and I knew that he was just looking out for this club.

"I don't think there's much more about him. He did tell me that he was running from a girl problem. So as long as that doesn't come to Charming and start's making problems, then there's nothing more he needs to say." I related to Piney as he ordered up a shot of patron for himself. I hope that what I had said was true but I also hoped that he wasn't leaving a kid behind; the mother and kid needed a man around.

Just then Dustin came over, "Hey man, thanks for everything you've done for me so far." he said as he extended out a hand. I looked at it for a moment before taking and shaking.

"I hope I'll be here for a long time." He said. That was another thing I hoped for, that he wouldn't get killed in this ongoing war with the Mayan's.

**_[1994]_**

**[Dustin Manning PoV]**

Charming had quickly become my home and I knew that it was the right place for me. I had been here for just over three years and seen a change in president when JT was killed. Now Clay Morrow was at the head of the table and things felt different, really different. I had grown close to JT in the short two years that I had known him and I knew that it rubbed some people the wrong way. But I managed to keep the target off my back so far, I had lived to see another day.

It was blazing hot today in Charming, something that I still was not use to after three years. Tacoma was hot in the summer but not like a summer in California. Some day's I longed to return to my previous home, but then I look around me, Charming was my home now. Often I tried to keep the memories of Tacoma at bay, they hurt too much. I was just climbing on my bike about to make my way to the garage when my cell rang. Pulling it out I checked the front screen, it was the garage.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as I flipped open the phone and answered.

"Hey baby," It was Gemma, she must be calling to make sure I was still covering a shift.

"Gemma, what's up? Don't worry I'll be there in ten, just leaving now."

"Glad to hear it but that's not why I'm calling. You got a large envelope in the mail. It's pretty heavy."

"Where's it from? There a return address on it?" I didn't have anything being mailed, at least nothing that I knew of.

"Uh... It's from Tacoma. Do you think that the Tacoma charter was mailing you something?"

"Probably. Keep it in the office and I'll grab it when I get there. See you in ten." I close the phone and ended the conversation. My heart dropped into my stomach, I had an idea of who the package was from and it wasn't the Tacoma Son's.

Minutes later I pulled into the Teller-Morrow parking lot, I figured I had sped a little too fast down the streets of Charming but I was eager to open that package. After parking my bike and turning it off I headed towards the garage office. The door was shut which meant Gemma had the AC on which would be a nice treat after a hot ride.

"Quickly get in before you let all the fucking cool air out," Gemma barked as I open the door and stepped into the office.

"Sorry Gem," I apologized as I shut the door behind me. The AC was cranked and it felt like a fridge in here, made me want to find a jacket. I walked towards Gemma, placing a kiss on her cheek in greeting.

"Ah Dustin. Here's your envelope." Gemma said as she grabbed a manila colored envelope and handed it to me.

"Thanks. I just want to open this before I start, it could be important." I turned over the envelope and read the address.

"Sure thing babe, take your time." She said and turned back to her paper work.

I exited the office and made my way over to the club house entrance, sitting down at one of the picnic tables. I stared at the return address at the top left corner of the envelope, re-reading the name at the top over and over.

_Nikki Anderson..._

I was nervous to open the envelope, scared to see the true reality that was sitting in the envelope. I tore at the side of the envelope and looked inside. I pulled out a stack of photos and a couple of letters.

"Dammit" I swore under my breath as I placed the photo's faced down, they were too much to look at right now. I unfolded the top letter and read it:

_My dearest Dustin;_

_How are you? It's been a while. I finally asked for your new address, finally had the courage to write you. I'm still fucking pissed at you for upping and leaving us though. It was a real dick move on your part you asshole. You haven't even called or written. but at least you let the club know where you were, in case something bad happen but you should have let me know too! I'm the mother of your daughter, who you left behind... _

_I figured you would want to know that Charlotte is doing fine, she's eight now and growing more each day. She also doesn't want to be called Charlotte anymore, just Charlie. She says that she's the man of the house and so she needs a man's name. She looks like you and it's heart breaking to see, I miss you. She asks about you a ton, always asking to come see you. Do you think that would be possible? Maybe she could come visit, she need's her father. I know you don't want to be a dad and that's why you left, but it's about time you stepped up and be the father I know that you could be. _

_I have something serious to tell you Dustin... Fuck this isn't easy to write about or tell you. Dustin I need you, when the time comes, to let Charlie come live with you. I'm not sure how much longer I have but the doctors say that I'm dying and it looks like I only have another two or three years at most. It's lung cancer, those smokes sure caught up to me quickly, damn it. When the time comes Charlie will be eleven at the youngest, she won't need much, just a place to call home and someone to watch out for her. Can you do that for me Dustin? She's not much trouble, I promise you, she's a very easy daughter to take care of... She's a sweet girl and I know that you would come to love her if you just gave her a chance. _

_If you can't do this for me then I'll leave her in the hands of the club, I know they'll take care of her. But eventually she'll come looking for you, you know that right? I've never hidden you from her, so be ready because one day you'll have to face her. Have to tell her why you didn't come get her and take her back with you to Charming..._

_If I don't hear from you in three month's I'll take that as you're not willing to take her in..._

I love you Dustin, always have and always will. Take care baby and don't get into too much trouble.

_Love Nikki._

I folded the note back up and stuffed it into the envelope. What a great way to receive that kind of news. Leave it to Nikki to tell me she was dying via snail mail. I grabbed at the next folded letter, hastily opening it. Inside was not another note but a drawing. I knew that it was Charlotte's, that she had drawn it for me. It was a picture of a mother and father and a little girl. To the right of the family was three names, scratched out in children writing, Nikki and Charlotte were there beside mine. And under our names Charlotte had written a question, _'Daddy when are you coming to visit?'_

Tear's welled up at the corner's of my eyes and I used the back of my hand to wipe them away, big bad biker's couldn't cry. I knew I was a horrible father for leaving and I just didn't have the guts to face the little girl reaching out to me in these letters. Again I folded and stuffed this piece of paper back into the envelope just like the last one. I couldn't bring myself to open up the last one, I didn't want to know what it contained.

I could hear the guy's working in the garage and knew that I needed to start work but I just couldn't leave the picnic table, it was like I had been glued to the spot. I placed my hand on top of the stack of photo's and left it there. It took me a couple of minutes to flip it over but when I did there were two familiar face's staring up at me. I took off the elastic band that held them together and I was sure there was about fifty photo's in the stack, she really sent me too many. I quickly flipped through the stack of photo's that were in my hands, the face's of many people I knew rushing by. I had to get to work, I had delayed it enough and I didn't have the time to study each picture. I shoved everything back into the envelope and got up from the picnic table, running back to the shop as an intense urge developed inside me. Gemma jumped as I entered, not expecting anyone to come in.

"Damn it Dustin, what the hell?" She asked as she pulled off her glasses. I didn't have time to apologize right now.

"Gemma, I need to borrow a car. I gotta go." I had to go, I knew it was the right thing. One of Gemma's brows lifted in confusion not really following what I was saying.

"Where you going? Does this have to do with your envelope and what about your shift?"

"Gemma I don't have time to explain. I gotta go see my girl." I said rather forcefully and pulled out a picture from the envelope and handed it to her. I could tell that she was studying it, making sure that she understood what the picture was implying.

"That' s what you ran away from? A daughter? Fuck Dustin." She said angrily as she scolded me but grabbed for her purse. She pulled out her own set of key's and offered them to me. I grabbed them from her hand, surprised that she had offered her own vehicle up to me.

"Sorry Gem, I gotta go, I'll be back in a couple of days. I'm bring her here for a visit. You tell the guy's I'll be back with a surprise." I yelled behind me as I ran out of the office, forgetting to shut the door behind me. I could feel people watching me as I climbed into Gemma's car and sped out the parking lot. Did I even have the right to show up now, out of the blue and ask to take her away for a while? Was it even safe to bring her here. I didn't give a damn, I wanted to see my baby girl...


	2. Girl from the North Country

**Hey guy's! Thanks for checking out the prologue. Here's the first chapter of 'To Stir with Love'. I know it's a bit _calmer_ of a chapter but you get to see some of Charlie's issues and see her interact with some characters. This start's off with episode 5 of Season 1, just as a head's up. Next chapter we see how Charlie reacts to her father (audience: "OOOOO")... And as always please review, all tip's and pointers are greatly appreciated. Thanks loves! Now onto Chapter 1!**

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**[Charlie's PoV]**

The sun was shining brightly and I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead as I drove into town from the highway. It had been a long, hot, and sticky drive from Tacoma to Charming and the air conditioning in my 2005 Honda Civic wasn't the greatest. As soon as I had arrived in Charming things instantly felt different, surreal almost. I was really here, ready to face the man who left me all those years ago. I had driven for over 12 hours from Tacoma and I had finally reached my destination and my legs painfully needed to be stretched.

But I was on a mission, an important one which had led me to Charming. I knew coming here that it was a small town and the people who lived here fought to keep it that way. Back home it was a little different; Tacoma was much larger and if you didn't know how to get somewhere, you most likely got lost looking. I felt like a fish out of the sea as I drove down the streets, it had the cliché small town feel oozing out of every brick and blade of grass. Just as I was about to give up, pull over and get directions, I saw the Charming PD building. I parked my car and checked the rear-view mirror and saw a couple of cops entering the building. As I got out of the car I looked around and taking in everything about the area. Charming PD was obviously a small force and I knew that I would be able to get my direction's quickly, I was eager to see my father.

As I entered the building I could feel the AC hit my face, causing a chill to run down my back. I was surprised by how busy it was and I managed to over hear something about a fundraiser, something called 'The taste of Charming' and some of the officer's needing to get down there to help out. I made a mental note to check out what ever this fundraiser was. Walking up to the reception desk I noticed that there was no one sitting in the chair, so I rested against the counter and waited to be helped. Suddenly a young officer was at my side, causing me to jump.

"Fuck you scared me." I blurted out as my hand went to my chest in dramatic heart attack kind of way.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Have you been helped?" He apologized as he placed a file on the reception counter. At first glance I noticed that he was rather attractive so I flashed him a smile hoping to get helped quicker and be on my way.

"Ah, It's no problem. Hey Officer..." I read his name tag on his chest, "Hale, I'm looking for directions. Could you tell me how to get to Teller-Morrow garage?" I wasn't sure how known the Son's were so I kept it simple and just asked for the garage.

"Now what does a young lady like yourself have at Teller-Morrow?" He asked after a letting out a large sigh. He leaned against the counter in a very casual way, I could tell that he was trying to come off as friendly but I didn't like people interrogating me or over stepping their boundaries, regardless of their profession. My business was my business and people could fuck off. I bit my bottom lip and rolling my eyes, quickly becoming irritated.

"Look all I need to know is how to get there, not have my business questioned. Can you help me?" I knew that I shouldn't have spoken to a cop like that but he was seriously pushing the wrong buttons. I was exhausted after my long drive and just wanted to get to where I needed to be. He shifted uncomfortably before speaking.

"Turn right out of the station, take the fifth right, second left and it will be on the left hand side... Be careful when you get there. The guy's that run the garage are pretty dangerous." informed Hale before he picked up the file again and headed deeper into the police station. I stood there watching him walk away before I went to leave, fighting back the urge to finger him. As I was heading out I felt like someone was watching, so before I pushed open the door I looked over my shoulder and checked behind me. Nobody stood out; I figured I was just being paranoid.

As I drove down the road trying to remember the directions that Hale had given me I began to recognize a couple of shops down the main street. I had visited Charming once before, which I remember little of, but the shops in Charming hadn't changed since I had last been here. Finally after only one wrong turn I made it to the garage parking lot but as I pulled in I saw a bunch of guys with leather vest's climb into a black van and headed out of the lot.

"Fuck." I swore as I climbed out of my Honda and watched as the van turned out of view. I looked around the yard, spotted a couple of guys working in the mechanic's shops and an open door for, I guessed, the office. That's where I would try first, find someone who could help me and answer some questions.

I pushed my sunglasses up into my hair as I stepped into the office, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness inside. I noticed a man with an oxygen tank at his side sitting at the desk and I knocked on the door to announce my presence. Startled he got up from where he was sitting and turned to me.

"Hey there darlin', what can I do for you? Your car needing some work?" He asked politely. I had a sense that I had met him before but couldn't remember who he was.

"Uh, no, no that's not why I'm here." I said and suddenly I was getting nervous and fast. No one knew I was here and I was starting to regret coming, causing my heart to start racing and then the sweat's started, fuck...

"Everything alright gal?" The man asked as it became clear on my face that I suddenly wasn't feeling well. My legs started to feel numb, damn it not now. Looking around for a place to sit I noticed the couch on the opposite side of the room and moved towards it.

"Yeah, I-I'm okay. Just a p-panic attack. Water..." I replied as I sat down. I bent over and placed my head between my knees, closed my eyes, and tried to take deep breaths. I had suffered from panic attacks for a long time, the first one I could remember was when I was seven, the night I lost my mother. Ever since then the attacks would come randomly, quickly and usually at the most incontinent times. The worst attack that had happened, was a week after I got my license. It had been so intense that I ended up totaling my car by crashing into a fence pole and it royally mess up my insurance.

As the attack started to fade off I heard a faucet start running and just as quickly turn off, the old man came back with a glass in his hand. I was glad this was a short attack. I took the glass of water from him when he offered it to me and shifted over so the man could take a seat to my left. I gave him a weak smile just before gulping down the contents of the glass. I raised the now empty glass in thanks and took another deep breath, still trying to calm myself.

"What's your name darlin'? I don't think I've seen you around before, are you new to Charming?" asked the old man. I studied him for a minute, he seemed nice enough to open up to. I took a couple more deep breaths before answering but just as I was about to, I noticed the jean vest he was wearing and the patches that were attached - First 9. He was a Son, perfect!

"Yeah, new to Charming but I've been here once before. I'm pretty sure you were around then, considering you're First 9" I commented as I pointed at the patch on his chest.

"Now that I think about it, you do seem somewhat familiar..." he acknowledged. I could tell he was trying to figure out who I was or who I was related to.

"Charlotte Manning, but you can call me Charlie." I extended my hand as I told him my name. I could tell that I had shocked the man sitting beside me, it took him a minute to extend his hand.

"Good lord..." He whispered, "Manning's daughter? It's been what, 13 years. You sure have grown up. Not sure if you recognize me but I'm Piney. You're father's a good friend and loyal member of SAMCRO." I could tell that he was shocked by who I was and who my father was, also probably had ton's of questions about why I was in Charming. But I didn't want to wait any longer, I had to ask.

"14 years actually... but Piney, where is my father? I want to see him." I asked rather forcefully. The look that Piney gave me as I asked for my father left me feeling rather uncomfortable and I began to wondered if this was a bad time to be here or something had happened to my father.

"You're father's not in Charming-" He started to explain but I quickly cut him off.

"Wait, what? Where's my dad? What happened to him?" I asked as I started to get worked up. If my father was dead and no one had informed me, there would be hell to pay.

"No, no darlin', He's fine. Nothing like that happened to him. He's just on a run now, won't be back for a couple of days." Piney said trying to reassure me.

"Oh..." I wasn't sure how I felt. I was a little sad that my father wasn't here right now, that I couldn't start yelling at him for giving up on me. His lecturing would have to wait a little longer, I'd already waited 14 years so what was a few more days?

"Don't worry he'll be back soon. Now..." Piney paused as he stood up, "there's a fundraiser going on right now, a bunch of the guy's are over there, get yourself acquainted with them and I'll get you're thing and set you up with a room here at the club house."

"Ah, t-that's okay. I'm staying at a motel for now..." I stammered as I stood up as well, I didn't want to cause trouble.

"Don't even think about it. No daughter of a Son is going to say at a motel when we have perfectly good room's here." Piney said as he directed me out of the office. I nodded in agreement but I still felt a little awkward taking help from people I had met only once. Back home in Tacoma I was close with the guy's of that charter and I should have know that SAMCRO would be the same, they took care of their family and friend.

I took Piney advice to check out the fundraiser, it was still pretty early in the afternoon and there was no point just sitting around the club house waiting for my father to show up. Piney got one of the hang-abounds to drive me to the school, considering I didn't know my way around. For such a small town there was a rather large turnout and I impressed by it. I followed the heard of people going in, I saw a bunch of tent's lined up and spotted the sign that said 'SAMCRO' in big blue letters. I was a little intimidated to make myself known so I decided to walk around for a bit, check things out. As I was looking around I felt my shoulder connect against something, I was obviously not watching where I was going.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." I apologized to the lady I had bumped in to and I noticed she had two kid's with her, a boy and a girl.

"Oh, don't worry." She said smiling and ushered her kids away. I watched her walk away and smiled to myself. I wanted that, kids and a family, I wondered if I could get that here in Charming.

After a couple minute's of contemplation about what I was doing here in Charming, I took a deep breath and figured I would finally go over to the SAMCRO tent. As I walked up I tried to see if I recognized anyone, but I didn't see any patched member's behind the table. The only people I could see were a couple of ladies, all busy with customers. As I waited I heard the one of them get called Gemma and it rang a bell, the name sounded familiar from my visit here before. Finally the line cleared up and I stepped up to table.

"Hey baby, one bowl of chilli?" the lady named Gemma asked and as I heard her voice I remembered who she was.

"Sure, but I'm not just here for that..."

"What else can I do for you then?"

"I'm not sure if you remember, but I, uh.." the words were caught in the throat, why did I have such trouble saying whose daughter I was?

"Remember what?"Questioned Gemma, I could tell that I was acting weird and she wasn't all that sure about me.

"14 years ago, a little girl visiting her dad from Tacoma..." I wasn't sure why I was being so mysterious about myself.

I remembered sitting in the office with Gemma one day while my father worked in the shop. She ended up taking me to get ice cream because I wouldn't stop crying, my dad wasn't paying attention to me and I missed my mom. While we were eating ice cream I remember Gemma giving me a lecture about girls not being cry babies, that boy didn't like girls who were to prissy. Her lecture worked and I stopped crying. I was pretty sure that the 8-year-old me idolized how tough and strong-willed Gemma was, and so as I grew up I tried to be tough like her.

"Wait... Manning's girl? Charlotte?" She smiled as she remembered and started to make her way. I moved towards her and she wrapped her arms around me.

"How you doing baby? I haven't seen you since that first visit. You're all grown up now. Damn do I sure feel old." She said as she gave me a look over. I was happy that Gemma remembered me, she was probably one of the few people who I had recognized right away.

"I'm doing good, thanks, but you can just call me Charlie. I'm here for another visit, thought it was about time I showed my face." I said with a forced laugh. I wasn't just 'showing my face', I was bitter towards my father and didn't try to make contact with him once. I figured that if he didn't want to put any effort into knowing me then I wouldn't either. Recently something changed, I needed a change and my first thought was to come see my dad.

"Your dad's going to be glad to see you. You know he still had that pile of picture's you mom sent him all those years ago; keeps them in his tool chest in the garage. I catch him looking at them every so often. I even think he got a guy from the Tacoma charter to send him one of you each year and a report on your well-being." Gemma said. I was shocked; my dad kept tabs on me?

"Really? I never knew..." I said quietly. It felt weird knowing that my dad still thought about me, I had figured that he just didn't care, didn't want to be a father.

"Well any way's we can catch up later. My son and the guy's bailed on me and I could use an extra hand, so let's put you to work." Gemma said as she forced me behind the table and took my purse. I wasn't sure what to do, refuse or just go with it. I chose the second option; it would make a good impression with Gemma and the rest of SAMCRO.

**[Jax's PoV]**

I watched from inside the van as Clay made the exchange with Lin. We'd been fooled by a chronic masturbator but somehow we manage to get our money, Chucky had turned out to be a perfect bartering piece. I was a little surprised at how important Chucky seemed to be to the Chinese, but figured that it was more about him knowing about the fake bills they produced and not how valuable he was. Just as Tig and Bobby, who was still dressed like Elvis, handed Chucky over my pre-paid phone started to vibrate. Pulling it out of my pocket I checked the number and saw that it was the garage. I figured it was Piney as he was the only Son there right now.

"Hey, what's up? Something wrong?" I asked into the phone. My guess was right, Piney. The others climbed into the van and saw me on the phone and I heard Half-sack ask who was on the other end.

"Nothing too serious but we do have a situation over here. A certain daughter showed up at the garage. I think you all should get back here." Piney informed me. I looked over my shoulder at Tig, I figured that Piney was implying that it was one of his girls.

"What?" Tig asked as he noticed me looking at him, a little confused.

"We'll be there in a bit." I said before shutting the phone. Tig's girls didn't show up too often but when they did good things never followed.

"Apparently a daughter showed up at the garage." I explained as I started up the van and drove out of the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant. The guys turned to Tig, giving him questioning looks.

The whole process with Chucky and the Chinese had taken a little longer then we liked. I knew that Gemma was probably still pissed at our departure half way into the fundraiser. When we finally made it back to the club house just as it was getting dark out, the firework display was going to be starting soon and Opie needed to get back to set up.

As we walked into the club house we caught the attention of the guy's hanging out. I saw Kyle Hobart sitting at the bar, for a split second I felt bad about what would go down later. Clay and I walked behind the bar and Tig and Bobby went to join the game of Pool.

"How'd it go with the Chinese?" Piney asked, turning away from the game.

"Not to good," I said with a sigh. I grabbed a bottle of tequila and poured myself a shot, needing to get ready for tonight.

"Well, where's Chucky?" Piney asked.

"That's the up side," Clay said with a grin.

"Clay, It's good to see you man." I watched as Kyle Hobart extended his hand out to Clay, expecting Clay to greet him like an old friend. Clay looked at Kyle's hand for a moment, threw his beer cap behind him before moving around the bar.

"I hear you have an offer I can't refuse."

"Whelp, I better get back to the fireworks or your mother's going to be stuffing gun powder up my ass." Opie announced as he headed to the back of the club house.

"Yeah I'm sure we're all on the 'Gemma Shit List' by now." I said following Op, needing to make sure he was okay with everything.

"I live on that shit list." Clay commented gaining chuckles out of the guy in the room. When we were far enough from Kyle I stopped Opie.

"Op... You okay with this?" I asked.

"Yeah... You?" Opie asked as he eyed Kyle.

"I'm good" I said nodding my head.

"Look, what I was saying earlier doesn't mean I don't want this. I would rather be dead than be that guy." Opie said. We both looked over as Clay and Kyle were holding up their bottles. Kyle didn't know what was in store for him, poor guy.

"Me too. You should get going; I can hear my mom swearing from here." I said as I watched Opie leave out the side exit. I headed back into the main room. I hadn't noticed any girl in the room and wondered where the girl Piney had called about was. I walked over to where Piney was, the pool game had wrapped up.

"Hey, so where's this girl you called about?" I was curious to find out who she was.

"Yeah. Is it one of my girls?" Tig said. I wondered why he hadn't asked sooner, he probably was too scared to deal with it.

"Oh, the girl, right. She headed over to the fundraiser, I didn't want her to just sit around and get in the way. She called a little while ago for a ride back, she be back here soon." explained Piney, taking a sip of his beer as he finished.

"Well whose girl is she?" I asked.

"Well you probably don't remember her. She only visited once, 14 years ago. It's Manning's daughter." said Piney.

"Ouch... Glad it wasn't one of my girls." Tig commented; glad to have that off his shoulders.

"Dustin's daughter? I thought she was in Tacoma? What she doing here?" I asked. I vaguely remembered a little girl hanging around Dustin, she was always crying.

"I'm guessing she's here for a father-daughter reunion. She didn't tell anyone that she was coming, I think. It freaked her out when she tried to explain and ended up having a major panic attack.." Said Piney.

"Ouch, I heard those things are intense," I said, just as I heard the main door to the club house open. We all turned around and watched as a the girl, who I guessed was Manning's daughter, walked in. She paused for a moment and rocked back on her heals, hand in her pocket and scanned the room. She spotted Piney and made her way over to us.

"Hey darlin' how was the fundraiser?" Piney asked her as she got closer.

"Uh, good, I think... Gemma put me to work dishing out chilli once I introduced myself. Said that her son and a bunch of the guy's split and she needed help." She explained as she looked around at us.

"That sounds like my mom." I said with a chuckle.

"Ah, you're Gemma's son. I'm Charlie." She said extending her hand.

As I shook her hand I quickly looked her over, she definitely was Manning's kid - looked exactly like him. From the way she held her self around us I figured she had spent lots of time with the Tacoma charter, wasn't afraid to be near all of us.

Even at first glance you could tell that Charlie wasn't a princess but was the daughter of a biker; The clothing she wore and exposed tattoo's said it all. I knew that if she ended up sticking around that she would be able to handle us and all the shit that went down.

"Hey Jax! Come have a drink."

I was pulled away from Charlie and the others when Kyle called out to me. I had to keep the façade of being chummy with Kyle so begrudgingly I went over. I looked over my shoulder and saw her talking with the other guys. I leaned against the opposite side of the bar and got the look from Clay that signaled it was time.

"So Bobby, you tell Kyle about the knuckle head?" I asked, using it as a taunt to get Kyle to the garage.

"Whoa, who's got a knuckle head?" Kyle asked, already sounding intoxicated.

Bobby went along with the taunt and began describing this non-existent knuckle head.

"Let's go take a look" I suggested. I heard multiple 'yeah's' from the guys and we started to funnel out. I saw Charlie watching us as we made our way outside. I lingered behind, heading over to her.

"Hey darlin', you mind staying inside the club house for a bit?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Hey, is that guy getting the shit kicked out of him? I could tell there was an elephant in the room and from the lack of cut on him..." She said.

"Kinda. Just don't go outside until for a while..." I ordered, patted her arm and headed outside myself. What was about to go down was not pleasant and Charlie didn't need to witness any of it...

**[Charlie's PoV]**

I watched as Jax left me and headed outside. Things were pretty tense when I walked in, you could cut it with a door stop. I was relieved when everyone, well the people I had talked to so far, greeted me kindly. These guys were just like the guy's back home, I suddenly missed them.

I looked around the club room, there was a ton of history on the walls and I walked over to the wall of mug-shots. I looked each one over. I had a good memory for names and faces, this would help me get to know them. Then I saw my dad's mug-shot, of course he would have one. He looked almost like I remembered him and I guessed that it had been taken around that time too. Moving on to the other photos I noticed that one guy was on the wall twice. He looked young, had head tattoos and definitely stood out. I laughed to myself, I hadn't seen that kind of guy before and I wondered if he got harassed about his non-biker look. I was interested in meeting him, I didn't see him with the guy's that were taking care of business and wondered where he was.

I followed the trail of pictures, down the hall towards the back of the club house, stopping to look at each one. One in particular had me stop, a little surprised by it being on the wall. The picture I had stopped at was of my father on his bike with me sitting in front of him and my hands holding the handle's. I leaned in closer, examining the faces behind the glass. My dad was looking down at me with the same goofy smile I had on. The things that I found out about my dad today and seen on these walls made me wonder if I was wrong about my dad, if I was the one that had stopped us from meeting sooner. Was I the bitch?

I must have stared at the pictures on the wall longer than I had thought; I was startled when I heard someone come up beside me.

"Sorry darlin', didn't mean to startle you." apologized Jax. I looked at him, he was definitely grown up but still looked like I remembered.

"Ah it's okay, don't worry about it. You're not the first one to scare me like that today." I said with a smile as Jax walked past me.

"Hey, uh, Jax..." I called out. Jax stopped and turned around.

"What's up?" He asked, making his way back to me.

"Piney said earlier that my dad was on a run. I was just wondering if you knew how long he would be..." I was a pretty impatient kind of person, hated waiting.

"I think he should be here in a day or two. Why, you good for the night? Got a place to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, Piney set me up with a room here earlier... Just wanted to know, be ready, you know?" I flashed him a weak smile. Inside I was freaking out and trying to hold back any possibilities of another panic attack.

"Good to hear. I'm sure your father will be happy to see you." Jax smiled and turned back around heading up

"I doubt that..." I said quietly to myself. I figured with Jax being back inside the club house that I was okay for me to head outside, I needed some fresh air.

The temperature outside had definitely cooled down from what it was earlier but still warm enough not to need a jacket. I pulled my cell phone out from my purse and sat down on the picnic bench outside the door. I flipped the phone open and saw that I had a text message. Before checking the message I caught sight of the youngest SAMCRO member cleaning up their mechanic's shop.

"They sure do give a messy shit kicking." I commented to myself before returning my attention to the phone, I read the text.

_Did you arrive safe? How was the meeting with your dad go? Call me when you get a chance. I miss you!_

_- Austin_

I smiled down at my phone; Austin always knew when to cheer me up, even if we weren't in the same room. I sent a quick reply back saying I would call tomorrow and explain everything. I stuffed the phone back inside my purse and got up. I wandered over to where the young guy was cleaning.

"Hey... "I called out trying not to startle him.

"Hi there, Charlie right? I overheard you introduce yourself to Jax earlier. I'm Half-sack." He said as he offered is hand.

"Half-sack... That's an interesting name." I replied as I stepped over the puddle that had formed at the edge of the garage.

"Yeah, it's just a nickname. Full name is Kip Epps. They all call me half-sack since I only got one ball sack when I was in Iraq," Kip explain and continued pushing the puddle out of the garage.

"Wow, Iraq, way to go, besides the missing genital... I'm just going to call you Kip, is that cool?" I was a little uncomfortable calling him by a name that referred to his junk. I leaned my shoulder against the outside of the garage, watching Kip work away.

"Yeah that's cool," Kip said with a laugh, "You're Dusty's daughter right? Why haven't I seen you around before?"

"Yup, he's my dad... Well it's hard to explain but we aren't on the greatest terms. It's actually a surprise that I'm here. I haven't seen him in over 14 years." It was weird hearing my dad be called by a nickname; to me he was just Dustin or dad. And when I was really pissed at him, just 'The Asshole'.

"Whoa, intense. I guess you'll be sticking around then for a while then?" Kip asked.

"Possibly, depends on how the upcoming reunion goes." I said as I looked down at my feet. I didn't want to talk too much about that subject, it made me super nervous.

"I'm sure that it will be fine. I'm glad to actually meet you. Not many of the guy's have daughters; well Opie and Tig do... But I uh mean..." said Kip stammering.

"I know what you mean," I said with a laugh, "Well I think I might hit the hay. It was a long day with driving and helping out at the fundraiser. It's nice to meet you Kip." I waved good night as Kip returned to his work and headed inside. As I got inside I asked Piney where I was staying and he directed me. I was quickly feeling the exhaustion washing over me.

When I got into the room I saw my thing, glad to know I was in the right room. I locked the door as I shut it and turned back to the room I was in. It was simple but had its own bathroom, perfect. I decided that a shower could wait till the morning; tonight I just wanted to crawl under covers and get some sleep. I needed it if I was going to be ready to face my father, which was a battle in which I need all the strength I could get.


	3. Higher Ground

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the view's, reviews, favourites and follows. I'm glad you're liking it! Sorry for the delay between Chapter 1 and 2, life's been pretty hectic lately but I've finally finished the chapter. This one is a lot bigger than the first one, even I was surprised. Charlie's meeting a lot of new people and even making friends Charlie has a warm spot in my hear now, I love her (is it conceited to love your own character?). As normal let me know what you think and I hope you like it. On to chapter 2!**

_***Also as a head's up I've changed the name of Ryder to Austin (for the people who's read the chapter's before this).**_

* * *

**[Charlie's PoV]**

_bizz... bizz... bizz... bizz..._

I was abruptly forced awake as I heard the sound of my phone vibrating. I reached for my phone but my hand only found air. I rolled over trying to find where my end-table was but quickly found myself laying flat on the ground. My half-awake mind had forgotten where **I **actually was, for a moment I had forgotten about yesterday's events. I had actually made it to Charming and was now in one of the room's at the SAMCRO club house. Propping myself up on my elbows I looked around, taking everything in and reminding myself where I was.

I stayed where I had fallen for a few minutes with my legs on the bed and upper body down here on the floor. I had been so exhausted last night that I barely managed to take off clothes, ending up sleeping in just my underwear and the tank top I had worn the day before. I felt sticky and dirty, a shower was definitely required, pronto. I pushed myself up from the floor and went to grab my purse. Pulling out my phone I noticed that I had missed a call from Austin; that was another thing I needed to do right away. I padded barefoot into the conjoined bathroom and turned on the shower, waiting for the water to heat up before stripping down and getting in.

Thirty minutes later I was fully dressed, wearing simply a pair of short dark washed jean shorts and a looser fit red v-neck t-shirt. I was ready to face any new people I would bump into as soon as I left this room. After slipping on my grey Ked's, I grabbed my phone and opened the door, shutting it behind me. I heard someone yelling for Kip as I walked towards the main room of the club house.

"Hey Half-sack, get in here! Oh Jesus Christ! What the hell is this?"

I saw Kip and another Son standing in the door way, as I got closer something started to smell funky. I couldn't tell who the second guy was since his back was to the hall but I knew it was a member due to the leather vest on his back.

"Man..." Kip said as he went a little deeper into the bathroom to check out what ever had happened. From the smell that was coming from that direction I had guessed that it was something with the toilet. I stopped just a little ways away from the bathroom, I was curious about what happened but had to cover my nose since the smell was awful. I watched the second Son lean in with his knife and pull out something from the toilet.

"Who do you think would be flushing panties down the shitter?" he asked.

"That's weird..." commented Kip and I had to agree with him. What person would flush panties down the toilet? But I guess that they already had an idea about who it was.

"Yeah you think?" The other guy cautiously carried the shit covered panties out of the bathroom and deposited them into a nearby garbage. As Kip turned around to leave he spotted me.

"Hey. This is probably a great thing to wake up to, isn't it?" He asked.

"It's amazingly pleasant." I said sarcastically.

"I gotta go get the number for the septic tank guy... You can come along if you like, I'm just going to ask Gemma for it." Kip offered as he started to head towards the main room. I nodded and started to follow him but I was curious if they had an ideas about who flushed the panties.

"Who flushed that thong? Do you have an idea who it was?" I asked.

"Not completely but..." Kip stopped for a moment as we pass the wall of mug-shots and looked up. He pointed to one of the guys, and I recognised him instantly from when I was checking out the wall last night. Kip was pointing at the guy that had the weird head tattoos, of course it was him...

"Him? He likes to wear lady thongs and then flush them?" I asked.

"No, no, nothing like that. Thought it's as weird. I've heard some of the... uh... women that come around say that they've seen him stealing women's underwear..." Kip said as he leaned in closer.

"What! Really?" I asked before laughing, "Where is this guy? I haven't seen him around... And Kip, you can say things like Crow-eater and Sweetbutt. I've spent a lot of time with the Tacoma charter so I'm use to it. Just remember I'm not one of them..."

"Got it, and I don't think anyone would mistake you for a hang around, you're much too pretty... And he's on his way back with Dus- You're father." Kip replied and we started to make our way outside again. I noticed that Kip had quickly transitioned from one topic to the other. I figured he didn't comment on girl's appearance's all that often since I could see a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Thanks Kip and it's cool. You can call him Dusty. I'm not really close enough to call him 'dad' to his face or well really ever. I've always just known him as Dustin..." I explained. I knew it would be hard for a lot of people to talk about my father around me, I didn't even know if I would call him dad to his face.

"I really hope that it works out with Dusty..." Kip said. I wasn't sure what I wanted to happen with my father, but I knew I wanted something to.

As Kip and I walked out the club house doors I felt my phone vibrate again and looked down, Austin again.

"Hey Kip, I have to get this." I said as I turned to the left, sitting down at the picnic bench, I saw Kip catch up with Jax and Clay.

"Hey mister. I see someone's rather impatient to talk to me," I said into the phone as I answered. I heard a chuckle on the other end, it was relaxing to hear his voice. I suddenly wished that Austin was here with me, that he had come along even just for the free trip.

"You know I was worried, I had to hear your voice. Yesterday was a big day for you and I wanted to know everything, so spill!" Austin said on the other end.

"Well..." I said after taking a deep breath.

"Wait, what happened? Just by just hearing your voice, even miles away, I can tell when something didn't happen the way you wanted it to." stated Austin. He was right, he knew me well; Things didn't go the way I had planned.

"Dustin wasn't here when I arrived." I started to say but was cut off.

"Why not? Where's he?"

"Apparently on some sort of run for SAMCRO... They say he'll back soon..." I explained.

"Well maybe it's a good thing, you know, in disguise. This gives you time to figure out what you're going to say," Austin said. The only person I let pry into my business was Austin, we grew up together and he was like a brother. We ended up being extremely close because his mother was my mom's best friend and it was his family that took me in once my mom had passed.

"Yeah... I don't know. It's already intense, I've already had one panic attack since being here and it hasn't even been 24 hours." I mentioned even though I knew Austin would freak.

"Bitch what? Don't put yourself in that kind of situation!" He scolded.

"But this whole situation is that kinda situation!" I snapped back. Was I crazy to have come all this way just to put myself in this situation? I was momentarily distracted as I saw a truck carrying oil barrels in the box pull up to the docking area, which was close to where I was sitting.

"HEY! EARTH TO CHARLIE, YOU STILL THERE?" Austin yelled and I pulled the phone away from my ear.

"Uh, yeah... Hey I gotta go. I think Dustin just got here... I'll call you later. Love you." I said before ending the call and I shoved the phone into my pocket.

From where I was sitting I could only see the driver's side of the truck and watched as the driver's door opened. The first thing that I spotted as the driver climbed out of the cab was the tacky head tattoos. The panty thief had come home, now I would get to meet him and I was kind of excited. I saw Clay grab him by the shoulder and it looked like he was getting in shit, maybe for the panty chaos created earlier? Then there was a tiny brunette at their side and then she was getting scolded too. I wondered if she was a relative of anyone, though she didn't seem all that welcome.

But now that wasn't who I was waiting for, who I needed to see. My heart started to race and I couldn't move, I wasn't even sure if I even wanted to. I was nicely hidden where I was at the moment and wouldn't be noticed. I knew I had to check if he had arrived in the truck, maybe I was freaking out for no reason.

Slowly I started to move, one foot in front of the other. I walked past the row of bikes and tried to see who was around the front of the truck, but all I saw was Kip standing at the end of the row. I was about to call out to him but I noticed that he was looking at the brunette and she was looking at him. Kip suddenly bolted headed for the office. I wondered what was up so I jogged over to the office, forgetting who **I** was looking for. Just as I got to the door it was shut in my face, I was a little taken a back and stared blankly into the white door.

"Well fine then..." I said to the door as if it had shut of its own free will, denying me access.

"Charlotte?"

Shit, I remembered that voice. I was quickly brought back to why I was here and who I was looking for. My heart was beginning to beat faster, my hand's becoming shaky as I curled my fingers into a fist. I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath, I was fucking nervous and I didn't want a panic attack to happen again.

I was caught off guard as I felt a hand on my left shoulder and I spun around almost automatically. I felt my knuckles connect with flesh, a knuckle cracking in the process. Then I was grabbed by the arm that I had just swung and was being restraint.

"Charlie, whoa, calm down..." I heard Jax say behind me. I tilted my head back to look up at him.

"Jax... I didn't mean to, now will you let me go?" I asked calmly trying to reassure him. Jax cautiously let go of my arms that he had restrained. I then turned my attention to the man I had accidentally punched, at least I pretended it was an accident. My father was rubbing his left cheek; I didn't feel sorry at all but rather calmed by what had happened.

Dustin looked the same as I had remembered, just a few more wrinkles here and there. His hair was longer and gelled back, I noticed specs of grey scattered through his dark hair; He was definitely older. His face was full of scruff, obviously he hadn't shaved in the last couple of days, and it completed his 'biker' look. Even though he seemed rougher than I remembered I still noticed his dark blue eyes. They were exactly like mine, and still had that unique shimmer that my mother talked about; She had always said she was happy I got his eyes.

"That's some mighty right hook you got there..." commented Dusty before turning his attention to Jax, "When did she get here?"

"She got-" I cut Jax off before he could answer.

"**_I_** got here yesterday. I can answer for myself..." I said defensively and crossed my arms in front of me. I saw Kip come out from the garage looking a little shaken up but rather sad; I made a mental note to talk to Kip after I dealt with my father. Suddenly Jax was called away and I was left alone with Dustin, I wasn't sure if I was ready for that just yet.

"I don't know what to say... Why are you here?" He asked as he stopped rubbing his cheek. I saw that it had swelled a little, no wonder I felt a growing pain in my hand; I had gotten him good. I glared at him, realizing that I wasn't sure what to say myself.

"That's all you have to say?" I asked angrily but before he could say anything I stormed off towards the club house. Regardless of what Gemma had said about my father keeping tabs on me it didn't help; I was still mad at him. I felt my arm being grabbed and I went to swing my fist again but this time Dustin managed to grab my wrist before it connected with any part of his body.

"Hey!" He yelled at me, his brows furrowed in anger.

I looked up at him angrily and I was starting to get very frustrated. I didn't know what I was feeling, everything was rushing over me and it was becoming too much. I struggled against his hold but it was firm, I was definitely not getting out of his grip until he thought I was level-headed but there was another way... With a swift kick my foot connected with his junk and his hold on me loosened instantly. I watched as he dropped to the ground in pain.

Seconds later I looked around as I became aware that I was outside and everyone could see what I had done. I saw multiple face's, some I recognised and some I didn't, looking at us and a couple of the guy's started running over. I turned around and bolted inside the club house heading toward the back and into the room I was given. I leaned against the door as I shut it. My hand against the knob turning the lock. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself yet again.

**[Dustin's PoV]**

The ride back from Nevada was long and uncomfortable, considering the extra body squished into the cab of the truck. Juice and I had stayed behind after the patch over of the Devil's Tribe to oversee the assembly of the new AK's. Now all I could think of was getting home and out of this truck. I wanted to be riding my bike but I had left it at home before leaving for Nevada, so I was shit outta luck at this point.

I knew that the Nevada sweetbutt was going to cause trouble as soon as we reached the club house, but she wouldn't budge when we tried to get her out of the truck. Eventually we ended up just driving off, sweetbutt and all. The girl was young, around the age that Charlotte would be now, maybe a year older.

As I climbed out of the transport truck I was not ready for who was waiting for me. After trying to calm Clay down from throttling Juice and the sweetbutt I headed towards the open garage doors. As I passed the office door I heard a familiar voice.

"Well fine then..."

I stopped dead in my tracks as I tried to process who was standing before me but before I could stop myself I called out to her. I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder when she wouldn't answer, only to receive a sold right hook to the cheek. She was definitely my daughter but what was Charlotte doing here in Charming?

Charlotte was definitely angry, I could tell by the way she was standing and the tone she used when answering my question. She had a bone to pick with me and there was most likely more punches to come my way.

"I don't know what to say... Why are you here?" I asked, still baffled by her presence.

It had been 5 years since the last time I had actually seen her. I had taken a secret ride up to Tacoma around her birthday, not telling anyone where I had headed. I ended up trailing her as she went about her daily business and I was happy to just see her from a far. Charlotte look so much like me, it was a like looking at myself in a mirror; only the reflection staring back was female.

Obviously I had asked the wrong thing and I watched as Charlotte stormed off in anger. I chased after her, grabbing her arm as I caught up. This time I was ready for the punch and grabbed her wrist as her fist came swinging towards me. Her wrists were so tiny that I was scared to hold on too tight, might possibly snap it.

"HEY!" I yelled at her, which was probably another wrong move on my part.

Suddenly I was on the ground, the bitch kicked me! I heard feet pound the pavement as my brother's ran over to me, they obviously saw the entire thing.

"Dusty, you okay man?" I heard Bobby ask.

"That girl of yours sure is feisty, I like it..." commented Tig and I knew he was getting enjoyment out of seeing me writhing on the ground in pain.

"Keep your god damn hands off her, asshole." I said through clenched teeth. Even though I hadn't really been a father to Charlotte, I still didn't want anyone like Tig to get close to her.

I quickly helped myself up off the ground, still feeling a throb in my junk. I knew that my lack of involvement in Charlotte's life would one day become an issue, I just didn't expect it to kick me in the balls. The guy's patted me on the back in support, they knew that it would not be easy to deal with Charlotte.

I needed to talk to Charlotte, especially if she was thinking about sticking around. I was just about to head into the club house when Piney stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey Dustin. You got a minute?"

"Uh, not really. I have to go fix things with my daughter, as you all have just witnessed." I explained.

"Well it's about your daughter." Piney said making me a little worried. What would Piney know about Charlotte that I didn't?

"Okay, man. What's up?" I asked as I ran my hand through my hair.

"When the gal first got here and came looking for you, something happened -" Piney started to explain but I cut him off.

"God damn it! What's wrong with her? What happened?" I asked, my mind instantly thought the worse. It didn't help that Charlotte had showed up unexpectedly...

"She's fine, at least from what I can tell. But when she started to explain why she was here and who she was, well, she started to have a panic attack." Piney finished.

"A panic attack? Why didn't I know about that?" I asked, suddenly I felt even worse of a father. My daughter had an anxiety problem?

"I guess you never knew because you weren't around to find out..." Piney comment rather harshly. I watched as the old man walked away towards the garage office. Damn that man and his brutal but true statements. I ran my hand through my hair again, how was I going to talk to Charlotte? I didn't want to upset her so that she'll have a panic attack...

I headed into the club house and made my way to the back, I noticed that only one door was shut and I assume it was hers. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"GO AWAY"

"Charlotte... Come on, let me in. You owe me after kicking me." I said to the shut door. I hope that Charlotte wouldn't be too stubborn but if she was that was something she definitely got from me.

"I don't want to talk to you now. AND STOP CALLING ME CHARLOTTE." I heard her yell back. How was I going to get her to open the door and talk to me?

"If you just let me in, talk to me now, you won't have to talk to me again if you don't want." I said, trying to bribe her into opening up. I waited for a couple of moments but there was no response. Had I changed her mind? Suddenly I heard a click and I guessed that it was the lock to the door so I tried turning the knob. To my surprise it opened.

I slowly opened the door and peaked inside. Charlotte was lying face down on the bed with her face in a pillow. I came around the bed and sat on the edge, placing a hand on her back.

"Come on Char... I-"

"For fuck sakes, it's Charlie. No one calls me Charlotte anymore, at least not since mom died..." I heard her mumble into the pillow. I hoped that our entire conversation didn't go like this.

"Charlie... Come on, sit up please? You wanted to talk or you wouldn't be here right?" I asked. I could only figure that's what she wanted, why would Charlie turn up so unexpected if she didn't want to talk with me? After a few silent minutes she started to move, changing her position. She was sitting against the wall and her knees up to her chest as she hugged the pillow her face had just been buried in.

I noticed that her makeup was smudged around the bottom of her eyes, had she been crying? I let out a sigh, I really was out of my element here, I was use to men not daughters. I didn't know how to act around Charlie or what the right thing to say was. I had only spent some real-time with her when she was 5 and since then I hadn't interacted with her since.

She looked up at me and I noticed that her expression had softened. I hoped she had calmed down a little since I first came up to her outside. I wasn't sure if I should break the silence between us but thankfully Charlie did.

"I'm sorry for showing up without an explanation… I... just… Why didn't you come back for me?" She asked, and I could feel a pain forming in my heart.

I remembered the letter that her mother had sent me that explained that she was sick and where she asked if I would bring Charlie to Charming; I knew I had failed Nikki on that promise. I just wasn't sure if I was ready to bring on a daughter full-time, this was a dangerous life and I didn't want to subject her to that kind of lifestyle. I saw how it affected Jax and Opie as they grew up, they were born SAMCRO and it affected everything in their lives. How could I tell the little girl sitting in front of me all that? I knew that she must have had some sort of resentment towards me because of my choices, who wouldn't?

"I… I had wanted to come get you after you mom passed but… I didn't want to pull you away from the life you had already started in Tacoma and I… don't really know how to explain it." I said and I couldn't help but avoid her intense stare.

"Figured..." She said turning away. I knew I couldn't give her an answer that would make up for how I've treated her...

"I'm glad you're here though... What made you come to Charming?" I asked for the second time and hoped I wasn't going to get punched in the face or kicked in the balls again.

"I don't really know, I just needed a change. I figured I would try Charming since you ended up liking it so much." She said and I felt the strings of her under lining sarcasm.

Even though I was a little shocked that she had even said that, I wondered if she had wanted to come here sooner or that she wanted to work on any possible relationship that the two of us could have. I wanted to pull her in and give her a hug, maybe now at 44 I might be able to be more of a dad to her, but I resisted. I didn't think I could muster up the courage to act on it.

"So... Are you going to stick around for a while?" I asked nervously, I wanted her to say yes. I know that there was no way I could make up for the last 14 years but maybe this was my chance to try.

"I... think so" She said quietly.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Half-sack stuck his head in; I knew our conversation was over.

"Church started and I was sent to get you." He said.

"I'll be there in a minute."

Half-sack nodded before leaving. There was an awkwardness that hung on the air between Charlie and I looked around the room but nothing caught my attention enough. After clearing my throat I stood up and rubbed the back of my neck. I looked down at Charlie and saw that she was looking back up at me. I bit at my lip and once again I wasn't sure what to say.

"I am going to go... Is it okay if I let them know about you staying?" I asked.

"Yeah..." She said as she looked down at her hands.

"Okay..." I said and made for the door. After opening the door I paused, and looked back. Charlie was looking at her phone now, I still couldn't believe she was here.

I opened the door to the meeting room and everyone was already seated, I could tell that they had already started the meeting. I took my seat between Juice and Piney. Seeing Piney reminded me of what he had said and I thought back to the talk I just had with Charlie. I hadn't seen any signs of a panic attack and I hoped that it wasn't happening now.

"Laroy's going to take the three dozen AKs off our hands," announced Bobby. I knew that Jax and Piney had a meeting this morning to sell our guns and I wondered if they were the same AKs.

"Yeah, at a deep discount." Clay added. Something had to have happened that made selling our guns an issue.

"Well it's either that or spend a month finding another buyer." noted Jax. We didn't have time to find another buyer but at the same time we didn't have the funds to sell the AKs at a 'deep discount'.

"'Least this way it gives us 50 grand in our pocket now, plus the 10 I got this morning and the Chinese money... Gets us more than half way there." continued Jax. He made a good point but the dollar's still weren't good enough. The club would have to come up with some serious dough quickly. Seconds later the chapel doors swung open and Half-sack was standing there.

"Clay, you better get outta here..." He said and motioned behind him.

I looked over at Clay, even he didn't know what was going on. We all filled out of the club house to see two people get out of a shiny black car. I watched them walk over to us but before I could get a good look at them I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Charlie to the side of me, she must have come out to see what the commotion was about.

"Who are they?" She asked quietly.

"Don't know, never seen them before." I replied. It was still weird to see her standing beside me.

"Either you're the feds or the limo drivers." Clay said sarcastically.

"Agent Stahl, ATF" Introduced the female agent as she flashed her police badge, "I'm looking for the owner of Teller-Morrow Automotive."

"That's me." Clay said. Instantly the young deputy Hale was grabbing Clay's hand's and put the handcuffs around his wrists.

"You gonna bother telling me the charges?" Clay calmly demanded. I assumed that this only had to do with the issue that was making the selling of our guns difficult.

"No charges yet, I just need to discuss your relationship with a Nate Meineke." explained Stahl rather smugly.

"Who?" Clay asked. I watched Jax and Piney exchange a look, yep I was right about this having something to do with the AKs.

"Nate Meineke. He's one of the men who held up a prison transport vehicle this morning." Stahl said and motioned for Clay to get into the car.

"Killed three men with AK-47's," Stahl continued on, really getting her point across about who this Meineke was, "We found Mr. Meineke's cell phone at the scene, last call he received was from your garage..."

This was not looking good for us, a shooting of cops with the AK's we had sold was definitely a problem. Our guns were going to be an issue now and that meant no money for the new warehouse we needed to build.

I turned away from where I was standing and took a seat on the picnic bench, pulling out a cigarette. I looked beside me as Tig took a seat beside me. He nodded towards Charlie, who was now talking with Half-sack.

"How did the talk go? Daughter's can be a lot to handle," He commented.

"I'm about to find out I guess. She's sticking around." I said before taking a puff of my smoke.

"Wow, Good luck. I feel for you man. Most of the time I'm glad that mine aren't here. You'll have to be careful of your actions when they're around. You're a dad now." said Tig, he was weirdly right.

"Wow, look whose being all serious and informative." I said looking at him, It wasn't like Tig to talk like this. We were close and he was probably the one I was closest with but we didn't usually talk like this.

"Even though she's sticking around and I haven't really been a father... She's off-limits to everyone." I said seriously.

"Got it." He said nodding, "Just be careful, brother. Daughter's, even when you haven't been around, know how to work their father. It's in their blood." He said before getting up and headed into the club house.

I knew that whatever the future held for myself, and Charlie, that it would be difficult. I had no idea how I was going to navigate through this, but it would be interesting and I was excited to have her around.

**[Juice PoV]**

Today had not been the greatest day and was quickly snowballing its way to becoming the worst. First I had my ass chewed by Clay for letting the Nevada sweetbutt come to Charming but I wasn't the only one that had let her get in though, Dustin had an equal part in it too. Then secondly the water wasn't working due to the septic tank blowing up, which meant I couldn't wash off the sweat that had built up while driving. Finally we found out about what had happened with the AK's we sold this morning.

Actually today was not a good day for any of us and I could only guess that it would get worse before the end of the day. The meeting had been cut short when the ATF showed up and hauled Clay away, now all we could do was wait. The ATF sniffing around the garage was serious, especially with the AK's I had brought here were still in the garage.

I exited the club house after coming up at a dead-end in my search for some information on Meineke. I notice Tig and Dustin sitting together at one of the benches. Those two were always together and as far as I could remember they always did things together. They were like an older and more twisted version of Jax and Opie; We all knew their friendship was the same.

I was heading towards the garage to help unload the oil barrels when I noticed Half-sack talking to a girl. This girl wasn't the sweetbutt from Nevada and I was curious since I knew that Half-sack was interested in the Nevada girl. As I walked past them I stopped at a nearby car and leaned against it as I pulled out to my phone. I pretended to read a non-existent text message as I waited for an opening to interrupt their conversation.

"And so Gemma grilled you about the girl who got out of the truck earlier?" I heard the girl ask.

"Uh, yeah... There's a little more to the story than that but it's complicated," Half-sack replied and I rolled my eyes, "Anyways, how'd the talk with Dusty go? I heard you booted him in the nuts?"

Was I hearing things correctly? Dusty and this girl were involved? She was rather young for him...

"It went... okay, I guess. I'm sticking around and going to get to know him. My mom always said that he was a good guy and that I should eventually get to know my dad." She said and I looked up. So she was the notorious daughter of Dustin, I heard about her from the guys and now I felt gross for thinking what I had.

"Hey Half-sack get over here! Get your ass to work." I heard Opie yell from the garage. Half-sack rushed over like the good prospect he was and I turned back to the girl but she was already standing beside me. I jumped in surprise, how did she get there so quickly?

"You know that eaves dropping isn't polite." She said as she crossed her arms and glared up at me. She was a couple of inches shorter than I was and I had to look down at her. Up close I could really notice the resemblance to Dusty and it kind of weird-ed me out. It was like talking to a shorter female version of Dusty; She was practically a clone of him.

"I wasn't eaves dropping, I was just checking my text messages." I said blatantly lying. Damn she was observant, I didn't even know that she seen me. She gave me a look like she was assessing what I just said. I smiled at her and knew that it said I was guilty but then she caught me off guard with what she said next.

"So you're the panty thief in question. I was waiting to meet you." She said with a cheeky grin on her face and I was taken aback. The guy's had already given me a hard time about the toilets and what they found but I was embarrassed that she knew.

"That, uh..." how was I going I get out of this?

"Is stealing panties from crow-eaters that arousing? Dude, It's weird and not to mention gross." She said with invisible stabs to my ego. I shifted uncomfortably and bit at my bottom lip. She was horribly blunt, I didn't know many girls like that other than Gemma.

"It hasn't happened... in a long time." I stammered quietly.

"Sure... Anyways, I'm Charlie Manning..." She said as she stuck out her hand, she was rather formal when introducing herself. I shook it as I checked her out. She was a small girl, not just in height but also in size; yet not to the point that I felt I need to get her ten burgers.

"Juan Carlos Ortiz, but I prefer Juice. You're Man-" I said introducing myself but was cut off prematurely when Jax came up to the two of us.

"Mornin' darlin." He said to Charlie first before turning to me. I wondered if they had known each other long, I was sure that I had never seen her in Charming before. I noticed her smile up to him tenderly. One minute she could go from being cheeky to sweet, she was definitely trouble.

"Heard anything from Clay?" I asked.

"Nawh, not yet. They're probably keeping him in lock up to try to sweat information out of him. Did you find anything on Meineke?" He asked.

"Not much, let me show you." I offered and Jax nodded. He put his hand on Charlie's shoulder before we walked away. After a few steps I looked over my shoulder at her, She was watching us walk away and I felt bad just leaving her there but club business came first.

When we got into the club house I headed straight for the computer, Jax following behind. I pulled up the internet browser that I had left open.

"Nothing's coming up on Meineke except discount muffler's." I said as Jax looked over the text on the screen.

"What's going' on?" Jax and I both turned around to see Piney coming towards us, Opie trailing behind.

"I thought I told you to go underground?" Jax question Piney. Jax, even with his younger age, was good at leading the club and we all knew that he would make a good President one day.

"Yeah, Nate reached out. They're in some uh, survivalist's bunker outside of Woodridge Forest" He said, dismissing Jax's order.

"Great. You need to set up a meeting." Jax asked, though he was borderline ordering.

"Then what?" Piney questioned; He wasn't one to take direction, orders, nor suggestions well from anyone.

"They killed three people in cold blood and they're a straight line back to this club. What do you think happens Piney?" Jax said bluntly.

It was plain and obvious about what Jax was implying, Meineke and his guy's needed to be taken care of; the sooner the better. Piney shook his head as Bobby, Chib's and Dustin came in the club doors.

"Talked to Trammel" announced Bobby, "Feds got a warrant to rip this place up." With that news everyone shook their heads. I wondered if I should try to dig up any information's before the fed's got here, though I highly doubt it would help us right now.

"Awe, Shit..." Jax yelled before turning to Piney, "Cabin, now!" That was probably not the smartest move that Jax has ever made. Piney's face quickly turned red as he pulled out the oxygen tubes from his nose. When Piney did that it mean he was seriously angry. I had only seen it happen a couple of times, but each time it had happened the guy had walked away from the spat with a figurative chunk missing from their ass.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking too?" Piney asked rhetorically. Quickly Opie was in front of his father as he tried to calm him down.

"Relax, relax." Jax said to the room.

"Get outta here." Opie said to his father as he patted his shoulder. It was weird to see Jax and Opie taking the reins of the club while Clay was gone, but it suited them well. The little group that had formed around Piney and Jax disbursed in different directions but I stayed where I was.

I watched Piney walk furiously out of the club house and passed Charlie as she came in, she just missed the outburst by seconds. Dusty quickly went to talk to her and I could hear him telling her to get out of the club house for a while. She nodded in agreement, which surprised me. She took the chaos that was going on rather calmly for someone new to this life style.

"I was just about to meet up with Gemma, which I guess is good timing... I'll be back later." She said before smiling at Dusty and walking back out of the club. Casually I walked over to him and stood beside him.

"So that's your daughter? I've never seen her around..." I commented. Right away Dusty let out a big sigh.

"Not you to," He said as he turned to me. Dusty was a couple of inches taller than I was and definitely tougher than me. I swallowed hard, I was instantly intimidated. Dusty wasn't one to get angry at people often, he tried to be the peace keeper and usually didn't keep a grudge, so this side of him was unusual.

"Like I told Tragger; Charlie is off-limits." He said before walking away. I watched him walk behind the bard. What did I say? All I had said was that I hadn't seen her around. Man the guy's around here serious needed to take one of those sleeping pills that Tig had...

I walked outside and caught up with Jax, Bobby and Chib's. We watched as Piney drove off the lot with Opie trailing him. They were trying to figure out how to get the guns out of the garage, it was tougher than usual now that the feds were camped right outside the gate.

"We'll never be able to get these gun outta here," I said, stating the obvious.

"Well if the feds open them oil barrels we all got a new charter, Stockton State Prison..." said Bobby. It was true, we were dangerously close to get thrown into Stockton right beside Otto Delany.

"Go meet with Laroy, pick up our money. Tell him you'll have his guns before the end of the day," Jax said to Bobby. How was that going to happen, magic?

"You going to Houdini the stuff outta here, boy?" Chib's asked. I chuckled quietly to myself, we thought exactly the same.

"I'll figure it out." Jax said as he patted Chib's vest patches. I hoped he did, and quickly. The ATF were probably going to be here shortly to raid the place, we had to have them out of here by then. Today was not going smoothly...

**[Charlie's PoV]**

I was happy to get away from the drama that was going on at the club house, when I walked into the club house I instantly felt the tension in the room. I was relieved when Dustin asked me to make myself scarce for a while. I had just called Gemma to find out where she was and asked if I could come along for the ride. I didn't want to just wander around town by myself aimlessly, so I figured I'd trail along on her daily errands.

As I walked toward the front gate of the garage I watched the police inside their car. They weren't being very inconspicuous, most likely they were trying to rattle SAMCRO's cage. It was definitely a good time for me to get out of this place, even just for a little while.

I only had to wait at the curb for a couple of minutes before Gemma pulled up in her convertible Cadillac Roadster. I opened the door and flopped into the seat, quickly having to shut the door as Gemma started to drive off.

"Thanks' for coming to get me..." I said as I began to feel a bit awkward. I didn't know Gemma all that well so it was nerve-racking to be in a situation like this so soon. But thank fully a smile grew on Gemma's face and she patted my leg with her free hand. Gemma wasn't as scary as she wanted people to think.

"It's not a problem baby. I know it can be a drag being around the guy's so much." She said before letting out a simple laugh.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Today has been... intense, to say the least," I said and turned to look out the window, watching Charming pass by.

"I heard about your confrontation with Dustin. If I didn't know better I would swear that you were one of my own. That was one-hundred percent a move that I would have pulled," Gemma said, commenting on my kick to my father's junk earlier in the morning.

"I'm guessing everyone knows now. I was a little heated. I'm not eight years old anymore, I'm twenty-five for fuck sakes." I said and ran my fingers through my hair, "It was when he tried to talk to Jax about me like I wasn't even there. That really pisses me off when people do that."

"That's men for you, dear. Guy's tend to forget that we women have a voice of our own, and often it's much louder than theirs." Gemma responded. She was right, guys could be pig-headed most of the time. The only guy that hadn't treated me like that before was Austin, but that could be because he knew if he did I would kick his ass. Austin wasn't weaker than I was but he knew that I would stand up for myself when needed and he didn't like to be on the receiving end when my fist started flying.

"I just need to make a stop at the drug store," Gemma asked as we pulled up parallel to the curb.

"I'll come in and grab a drink, then meet you back outside at the car." I said as I unbuckled my seat belt. I followed Gemma into the store but veered off towards the small cooler of drinks. I checked over the choice's and didn't see anything that would quench my thirst, but grabbed a can of Coca-cola and a bottle of water.

After paying for my drink I went back outside. I leaned against the side of the car and I could feel the heat through my shorts. I figured that today was hotter than yesterday and I was already feeling the heat, maybe a pop wasn't the best idea. I placed my purse and plastic bag on the passenger's side of the seat before opening the bottle of water. As I tilted my head back to chug the water I caught Gemma out of the corner of my eye as she came out of the store. I quickly chugged as much as I could and then twisted my cap back on.

She had a white paper bag in her hand, the kind that prescriptions were in but I didn't bother asking what was in it. That was none of my business. I watched followed her as she came up to the passenger's side of the car. She threw the paper bag and clutch on top of my stuff.

"Skinny ass bitch," Gemma said under her breath. I was shocked and momentarily thought she was talking about me. I was about to snap back at her when I saw she wasn't looking at me. I turned to my right to see the sweetbutt that had gotten out of the SAMCRO truck earlier walking down the street. I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen.

I was right.

It seemed almost instant. I watched as Gemma bent down and picked up a skateboard; where did that come from? Then, as if it was a baseball back, she brought it back and with all her force swung it around, it connected with the sweetbutt's face.

"Holy fuck Gemma," I blurted out as I rushed to the girl's side. She was holding her face as blood spilled onto the ground.

"Owe... oh... Oh-my-god, my nose." She said as she cupped the running blood. I squatted beside her and put my hand on her back, trying to comfort her. A couple of onlookers came over to help the girl out.

"Give her some room, don't suffocate her." I said to the forming crowd. They seemed like they were trying to help but I knew all they wanted was to get a good look at her face.

"Who are you? Why did you do that to me?" She asked Gemma, her voice shaky. I could see tears starting to roll down her cheeks. I grabbed at the end of my shirt and started pulling at it, tearing off a large part; I now had a belly top. I crumpled up the fabric and offered it to her.

"Here, it will be gentler than used Kleenex," I said as I saw a woman try to offer crumpled Kleenex from her pocket. The brunette looked at me cautiously before taking the torn pieces of my shirt. I gave her an apologetic smile, since I wasn't sure what to say.

I looked over my shoulder at Gemma, she was now sitting on the curb in front of her car and rocking ever so slightly back and forth. I don't even think Gemma could believe what she had just done. Gemma was tough since she practically was the Queen of SAMCRO and had to display that at all times.

From what little Kip had told me earlier I gathered that Gemma was not too pleased that this particular sweetbutt had showed up. Kip said that when they were in Nevada visiting the Devil's Tribe, Clay had spent the night with this girl. Gemma must had known instantly and that was what she had grilled him about inside the office.

Only a few minutes had passed when a squad car pulled up beside Gemma's car. Two cops climbed out of their car, looking around. One went towards Gemma while the other came towards myself and the sweetbutt. I explained what had happened to the officer and stood up so I could give her room to check out the girl. I walked a little towards Gemma but saw her getting hand cuffs placed on her; like husband, like wife. As they ushered Gemma into the squad car the ambulance pulled up.

I watched as both the ambulance and the police car drove off towards their destinations. I stood there on the side-walk and looked around; I felt stranded. I looked over at Gemma's Roadster, I guess I could just drive it to the shop parking lot...

"I was supposed to stay away for a while… I'll just drive it around and explain later." I said out loud to myself, trying to convince myself I was doing the right thing.

After getting into the driver's side I grabbed Gemma's clutch and opened it, I didn't like going through her things. I grabbed the keys and stuck them into the ignition and the car purred to a start. This car was much different from my Honda, it was exciting!

I arrived at the hospital shortly after, I managed to only take 3 wrong turns before I found my destination. I felt that I had to be at the hospital, I wanted to apologize to the girl. I figured that Gemma wouldn't actually apologize to her so I was going to do it on her behalf.

Right away when I walked into the hospital I was over whelmed by the smell of sterile floors. I wasn't a fan of hospitals, I had spent almost a year straight in one just before my mother passed and ever since I hated coming here. I told myself that I only needed to check up on her and make sure that the sweetbutt was okay and then I could get out of this place; the clean white walls were creeping me out. The less time I spent here, the better.

I managed to find the nurse's station easier than expected and spotted a doctor filling out a chart. I came up beside her before clearing my throat to indicate that I was there. She jumped in surprise, she had been engrossed in her paper work and hadn't noticed me come up.

"Sorry about startling you. I'm looking for a patient, the girl who was just brought in after being hit in the face with a skateboard. Could you direct me to her room?" I asked the doctor. I glanced at her name tag and her name was Dr. Tara Knowles, she seemed rather young to be a doctor.

"And you are?" She asked as she checked me over. I felt a little uncomfortable with the way she was looking at me and I shifted awkwardly.

"I'm... a friend." I lied, "I heard what happened and I'm here to make sure she's okay. I'm her only friend in Charming, she has no family here. Please can I see her?" I hoped she didn't ask me her name because I wasn't sure I would be able to get out of that one. The doctor took a moment to survey me, probably waiting for me to crack or give some signs that I was lying.

"Well?" I asked impatiently, I crossed my fingers in hopes that she would give me what I wanted.

"The patient that you're looking for is down the hall and fourth room on the right." She said before returning to her paperwork.

Seconds later I stood in front of the door and placed my hand on the handle as I tried to gather my courage to open it up. Finally I took a deep breath and turned the handle. I slowly entered the room trying to be as quiet as possible, I wasn't sure if she was awake. I turned back to the door and shut it but paused when I heard the girl talk.

"Who are you?" The sweetbutt asked.

I finished pushing the door shut and turned back around. I examined the girls face, Gemma had hit her hard. She had two black eyes, a large white bandage over the bridge of her nose, and tissue stuck in her nose. I felt bad for her and I prayed that she wouldn't have any scaring or lasting damages. I grabbed the spare room chair and moved it to her bed side before taking a seat.

"I'm Charlotte but everyone just calls me Charlie." I said introducing myself, "I was there when you got it. I gave you part of my shirt as a Kleenex." I unzipped my hoodie to show the torn shirt I was still wearing.

"Thanks... I'm Cherry." She said as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, "Do you know the woman who did this to me?" She didn't look up at me but stared down at her fidgeting hands.

"Yeah, well... kinda." I answered and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I didn't know Gemma enough to explain how she worked but at the same time I felt that I could have stopped Gemma somehow.

"What do you mean kinda?"

"I met her once before, about 14 years ago. I just got to Charming yesterday so I'm almost as new to the place as you are." I tried to explain.

"You're not from around here? What are you doing in Charming then?" Cherry asked. I felt a weird urge to explain everything to her, I wanted to talk to someone about this. I guessed that Cherry was around my age, give or take a year and I was eager to have someone I could get to know. From what I had gathered most of the girls that hung around SAMCRO were there for only one thing and I didn't have that one thing.

"I came to find my father. He left when I was two... But now I felt like tracking him down. Talked to him for the first time in 14 years today. Gave the guy's a nice show, I ended up kicking my father in the junk." I explained and let out a gentle laugh at the end. I knew I had over reacted at first but I knew that I'd do it again if I had to.

"I saw that!" Cherry stated as she started laughing, "He dropped instantly. I was impressed by that." I smiled as she continued laughing, It was nice talking to her. I didn't usually spend much time with girls back in Tacoma. Any girl who took one look at my extended family instantly bolted in the opposite direct. So I got use to talking and spending time with the guys, they were my best friend; Except Austin had the number one spot and he often reminded me of that.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it that much," I said as I looked down at my hands, "Say, I'm really sorry Gemma hit you... I wish that I could have stopped it." I knew that I couldn't do that but I still wanted to tell her I was sorry. Silence fell between us as Cherry stopped laughing and went quiet.

"I kinda had it coming. I knew that it was a bad idea showing up after SAMCRO came to Nevada but I had to..." She said.

"I heard... Kip explained it to me earlier. Regardless, you shouldn't have been hit in the face with a skateboard." I replied, "Anyways, from now on we'll stick together, watch out for each other. You know just as little people as I do and I hear Charming's a dangerous place, regardless of it being called charming." I said matter-of-factly and flashed her a smile.

"Sound's good. I'll come find you when I get out of here." She agreed.

"Wonderful, but I am going to get out of here myself. Hospital's give be the creep's." I said standing up and I said good-bye to Cherry as I left the room. I was pleased with how that all went and was excited to have the makings of a friend.

I stepped out of the hospital and was blinded by the sun light. I dug into my purse, pulling out my sunglass and cell phone. I placed the glasses on my face before flipping open my phone and walked towards where I had parked Gemma's car. I checked the time and calculated that I had been gone from the son's club house long enough, besides I need to change my shirt.

When I got to the roadster I pulled off my hoodie and threw it on the passenger's seat beside my purse. I climbed in and started Gemma's car and began pulling out of the parking spot. It took me a lot longer to get back to the club house than I would have liked. I had to back track to remember where I had come from and how to get to the club house. Just as I pulled into the parking lot of the garage a bunch of fed cars drove off the lot; I had cut my time close.

Once out of the car I grabbed my purse and Gemma's clutch before heading towards the office, I figured it would be the best place to leave Gemma's things. I placed the keys inside the clutch and placed it on the desk. I wrote a note to Gemma on a sticky-note and stuck it on the clutch.

As I exited the office my body contacted with someone else. I was sent backwards and landed my ass on the hard asphalt. I looked up to see who I bumped into, it was tattoo-head. I stared angrily up at him, dude was really starting to rub me the wrong way. First I caught him eaves-dropping and now he was being a brick wall and running into me.

"Dude, watch where you're going," I snapped as I pushed myself up from where I had fallen. He made a move to help me up but I shook his hand off.

"I'm sorry but I think you ran into me." He said in defence.

"Did not..." I snapped. I glared at him for a moment then walked off towards the club house. Inside I headed straight for the room I was currently residing but not before I was stopped by Dustin.

"Charlie what happened to your shirt?" He asked, eyeing my now exposed stomach.

"I had to tear off the bottom to give to a girl, her nose was bleeding." I said calmly.

"Who was this girl? What happened?" He asked becoming confused.

"It was the sweetbutt that you and tattoo-head brought back from Nevada. Gemma smacked her in the face with a skate board. But if you'll excuse me I need to change." I explained before turning back towards the rooms.

"Wait Charlie, I have something to ask you." Dustin called after me.

I stopped and Dustin came over to where I stood. I was a little nervous, trying to guess what Dustin would ask of me; I had a history of being asked to do some seriously weird shit. Tacoma often used me to help ease some of their plans and I could only imagine what SAMCRO needed of me; SAMCRO was more dangerous than Tacoma

"We were wondering if you were free tonight to help gather some things, we need you to drive a couple of us to a truck yard... We're not sure if the feds are tracking us so we figured that we could use you to help transport, they won't be looking for your car." Dustin explained. If they were collecting things at night I guessed they were up to no good.

"Fine. What time?" I asked. I wasn't busy and figured that it might be some sort of adventure, could be interesting.

"You'll meet Chib's at night fall. I'll text you the place that you need to pick him and the others up at. It's the cabin that Piney owns." Dustin explained.

I gave Dustin my number so he could text me and then headed towards my room. Once the door was shut I quickly pulled off the ripped shirt and threw it on the bed. I grabbed my bag from the floor and put it on the bed. I rummaged through my clothes and pulled out a black t-shirt, since I was helping them at night I figured I might as well put on the black shirt now so I didn't have to change again. Once I had the shirt on I sat at the edge of the bed, my mind wondering what I was getting dragged into tonight. I was curious about the excursion but at the same time I was dreading it, I did not want to get into trouble with the law after being here only 2 days. I flopped back on the bed and closed my eyes, quickly my breathing slowing down and sleep began wash over me; it was draining being in Charming...


	4. Second Chances

**Here's chapter 3 finally! Sorry for the wait, life has been hectic and stressful. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, I enjoyed writing it. We're starting to see a bit of development between Charlie and Juice, Yay! And as always, thank you for the views, reviews, favourites and follows. I'm hoping that you've all enjoyed it so far and let me know what you think. On wards my loves! **

* * *

**[Charlie's PoV]**

"What are you guy's dragging me into?" I asked as I pulled up to a locked tuck yard.

Earlier that evening I had agreed to help the members of SAMCRO track down some of their missing things. I knew that it was likely that I would get into some sort of trouble tonight yet I was not ready for what was about to be asked of me. I probably should have asked what I was helping retrieve when my father asked me earlier, but I sometimes speak before I think, and now here I was.

"Oh, just finding our guns in a truck o' shit." Chibs answered casually as we all climbed out of my four door Honda Civic. I groaned loudly, I should have guess it would be something like this.

"You can wait out here if you want," Kip offered. I was teetering on my choice of action but I wanted an adventure, didn't I? Now was a perfect opportunity, not too dangerous. Little did I know I would regret my choice soon enough.

I watched as Chibs offered up three pairs of rubber gloves, "You'll be needing these." He handed Kip, tattoo head, and myself a pair. I took the gloves he was offering me and slipped them on, that being my answer to my pending participation in this field trip.

I wasn't too please when tattoo head had climbed into the back of my car, something about him irritated me for no reason. I knew better though, he was a brother of my fathers and I wasn't about to voice my irrational dislike of the guy - it was disrespectful to the people who were giving me a place to stay. I had noticed though that the guy hadn't said much during the car ride over, it sparked my curiosity.

"Are you sure we should be dragging her into this?" Juice asked, finally speaking. I was shocked at his concern for me, not wanting to compromise me.

"You forget that I've done things like this before, I lived with the Tacoma charter. This is nothing new to me, other than the objects being retrieved." I answered as the three men I was with turned to look at me. I figured that it was hard for them to grasp that I wasn't an innocent girl, I had been compromised since the minute I was born. I was a part of this world whether I liked it or not. I had done my share of illegal things before, this was a cake walk compared.

"Juicy-boy is right, ye sure you want to be doin' this lass?" Chibs asked again.

"For the last time yes. If I wasn't okay with this I wouldn't have agreed when my father asked me to help you guy in a night of questionably illegal escapade's." I said, starting to get slightly irritated, "Now let's get going." I looked over my shoulder at Juice as I walked away and caught him watching me. I gave him a glare before turning away, I was pretty sure he was checking out my ass.

Minutes later we had finally entered the truck yard and began searching for the specific truck. I didn't know how they were going to find the truck that had their guns in it but I figured I'd leave that up to them. I followed beside Kip as they checked each truck.

"You're brave, wearing shorts to a thing like this. Didn't Dusty tell you what we were doing?" Kip asked quietly. Everyone seemed to be over concerned with my choices as of lately, they seriously needed to stop questioning them. Though Kip was probably right, I was about to be ankle high in shit and here I was wearing Keds and short shorts; great fashion choice there Charlie...

"Okay, maybe you're right..." I acknowledged. My eyes wandered over to Juice who was walking a few paces in front of us, checking the trucks. Was I being too bitchy towards him? I did feel bad at how mean I was being. I wondered what he was truly like, I wondered if I should ask Kip about him.

"I'm surprised that you're here now, to tell you the truth. Not many girls I know would help break into a yard full of trucks filled with shit, knowing that they may eventually have to wade through said shit." Kip said.

"To be fair, I only knew about the trucks full of shit once we go here. If I had known earlier I would have left you guys stranded at the cabin!" I said just before Chibs whistled to us. Kip and I turned around to see Chibs waving us over.

We came around to the backs of the trucks and Chibs indicated to the right truck, "This is the one."

We stood beside Chibs and I wondered exactly how much waste was in that truck.

"Stand back, boys." Chibs half ordered as he placed his hand on the tank door latch, unlocking it seconds after. The four of us were not prepared for the smell that immediately rushed into our nose. Almost as if in sync, we all started gagging at the stench.

"Awe, Jesus Christ!" Chibs yelled out as he turned away from the running stream of shit. I closed my eyes and buried my nose in my elbow but even that didn't keep the smell from wafting into my nose passage.

"This is a real shitty situation," I said. I stopped gagging for a moment and looked at the guys; that was a really bad pun.

"Really?" Juice asked from behind his hoodie sleeve that was covering his face. I shrugged my shoulders, it just happened.

"Get the guns," Chibs barked between coughs and gags. Kip and I skirted around the puddle of liquid shit, trying not to touch any of it. As Kip pointed out, I really chose the wrong outfit.

"I hope you all know that you're ditching your shoes before getting in my car," I informed the guys. I was not having shit dragged into my car, it would smell for days.

Juice, Kip and I gathered the guns as quickly and dryly as possible. This was not a situation where you put on your rain boots and went puddle jumping. I tried as hard as I could to keep my nose covered by my jacket sleeve, it was not pleasant to be collecting shit covered trash bags full of guns.

I had finally collected all the guns I could reach but there was still one more that I had to grab. I leaned over as far as I could, pushing myself to reach just a little farther.

"Be careful lass. You don't want to..." Chibs said but stopped as I did just what he was about to warn me about. I had reached over to far and lost my balance, falling into the puddle.

"FUCK!" I yelled out as I scrambled to push myself up, but tried to get as little shit on me as possible. I stood up and the smell emanating from me was horribly strong. I looked down at my clothes, the hoodie and shorts I was wearing were covered, and the side of my face was caked with feces. I wanted to get everything off me quick, I was sure I was going to be sick.

Looking up I saw Juice, Kip and Chibs staring at me in disbelief before they roared with laughter. Great, at least someone thought this was funny.

"Did that really just happen?" Juice asked as he continued to laugh.

I grabbed the guns I had dropped during my fall, stormed around the shit puddle and dropped the guns at Juices feet, "Here, you deal with them."

I turned around and walked off, heading back towards my car. I pulled off my hoodie while walking away and used the back to wipe away the stuff that was on my face and in my hair; I could still smell and feel the foulness. I tried to get as much of it off me as possible, but the stench lingered.

When I finally reached my car I opened the door but stood beside it for a moment, trying figure out what to do. I didn't want to climb into my car with my clothes the way they were. Once I decided I pulled the lever for the trunk of my car and walked to it. I pulled out a plastic that had previously been holding a couple of pairs of shoes, now it would hold my soiled clothing.

I stuffed the hoodie into the plastic bag before dropping it on the curb beside me. I looking down at what state the rest of my clothes were in, judging what needed to come off. My tank-top was fine, it had been protected by the hoodie, but my shorts had to get lost. I popped open the button to my short and slid them down and stepped out of them. I knew that it probably wasn't the best idea to be walking around in just a tank top and underwear, but it would have to do; the guys would just have to live with my current state. Hopefully it didn't get back to my father, he already didn't like the looks I was getting from the guys.

Here I was, in the middle of the night, standing in nothing but my boy-brief style underwear and a tank-top with a hint of eau-du-shit for perfume. I bent over and picked up the plastic bag and shoved my shorts in with my hoodie. I then removed my shoes and placed them inside the bag as well. I tied the top of it and dropped it into my trunk. I left the lid open as I headed up to the driver's side and saw my three hooded companions head towards me. I plopped myself into the driver's seat.

"Kindly take off your shoes and put them in plastic bags. Same with the guns, I don't want any remnants of shit in my car."

The boys kindly did as I asked, all things that were once covered in shit were now placed in bags yet the smell was seeping through, I was not happy. Finally the guys climbed into the car; Chibs in the front seat, and Juice and Kip in the back. As Chibs sat down and buckled his seat he spotted my new state of attire. I cut him off just before he spoke.

"Don't. Say. Anything" I demanded calmly.

I was not pleased with how I was dressed and was not impressed that I had to drive like this with the guy's in the car. I didn't want these guys to see me as that kind of girl, who didn't care what was exposed and how many people saw said exposed things. Kip and Juice looked over the chair shoulder at my lower half.

"Pink Hearts?" Juice snicker. Of course he would be the one to rub it in.

I turned around to glare at him, "No comments from the peanut gallery. " I stabbed the car keys into the ignition and started it up. I could hear Juice and Kip whispering behind me, they weren't being quiet enough.

"Girl needs to take a chill pill," Juice whispered to Kip

"Give her time, she's really nice. She told me she went to see Cherry in the hospital after Gemma attacked her. They didn't even know each other yet she went and check on her..." Kip whispered in my defence.

Kip and I were quickly becoming friends, he reminded me a lot of Austin; which made me miss him even more. The fact that Kip was happy that I had gone to look after Cherry, regardless of what he wanted to do with her, made me happy. It was nice to have someone like Kip around, someone who I hadn't managed to push away with my coldness.

"Well she could show that side of her to other people too..." Juice whispered before turning to look out the car window.

I knew that I was being a little too cold to Juice, it's just that he bugged me in a way that made me cold and short. I frowned as I drove, I was beginning to feel real bad about me attitude towards Juice. I figured that maybe we had just started on the wrong foot, maybe I should try starting over; this time without him eves dropping on my conversation.

A while later after our outing I pulled up to Piney's cabin. I parked the car and turned it off, "Alright, everyone out. I'm dropping you off here and then leaving."

"Yer not comin' in, darlin'? I bet the guys would love to see yer new outfit." Chibs teased.

"Nah, I'd be too much for them. They'd all kick the bucket, even the young ones. Also it would be majorly weird, my father could be in there..." I said with a smile. Even though Chibs' joke was about my lack of clothing I knew that he meant no harm by it. My Tacoma family use to joke around like that, I was use to it.

As the guys climbed out of the car Kip came around to my side of the car, "You willing to wait a minute? I want to go see Cherry, talk to her and... find out why she's here. I was, uh, wondering if you wanted to come along?"

I smiled, "Sure. I want to shower first, I don't think it would be proper to go to a hospital smelling like fecal matter." I wasn't entirely please at having to return to the hospital for a second time today, but if Kip wanted company then I would suck it up.

"Sure, wait one moment," Kip said smiling.

I pulled the handle that popped the trunk and the guy's collected their guns. I watched as three entered the house and one exited a few minutes later. Kip opened the passenger's seat door and climbed in.

The drive back to the SAMCRO club house was enjoyable, besides the fact that I had shit still on me. I enjoyed the chatter between Kip and myself, his company was relaxing. I hadn't taken to someone this quickly in a long time and I was surprising myself.

"So, what made you come find Dusty?" Kip asked. I wasn't totally sure on what I was going to say, there was more to it than I was letting on but that was not quite easy to say just yet.

"I needed a change, and I thought meeting my dad was the answer. My mom had wanted me to originally come live here with him after she passed, but that never happened. As the years went on I started to hate him, for not coming and getting me. Now I finally was ready to put that behind me..." I explained. I knew that I had said almost the exact same things to others before but this was all they needed to know for now.

Once we reached the club house I showered, washing off the evidence of the night's adventure, and put on new clothes. I threw all the items I had worn earlier in the club house washing machine, thank goodness they had one here. I had only taken about fifteen minutes and I was pleased with my time. I did leave my hair wet, which was uncommon for me, and it slowly curled as it dried. I had naturally wavy brown hair and usually I straightened my hair or curled it with a curling-iron, but very rarely did I let it air dry.

I exited the club house and Kip was quickly at my side, I figured he had been outside smoking while he was waiting. We both once again climbed into my car and we headed towards the hospital.

As I drove I wondered if we would be able to actually visit Cherry, it was pretty late and I knew visiting hours ended early. We arrived and as we walked through the hospital doors I noticed that there were a lot of non-patients and I hoped that it meant we wouldn't be kicked out. I spotted a nurse and asked about visiting hours and I received the okay.

"What are you going to say to her?" I asked Kip. I could tell that there was something between the two from the moment Kip had seen her get off that truck today. I was a sucker for romantic stories and I wanted Kip and Cherry to be happy together. I wanted something like that for myself too.

"I'm not sure. She really shouldn't be here, she should go back to Nevada." Kip answered. I could tell that's not what he really wanted, it was written all over his face. Kip was being stubborn, if he just admitted that he wanted Cherry here, I was sure that she could jump right into his arms.

"Yeah, maybe she shouldn't have shown up the way she did but I know that she didn't mean to upset any one. Look what I did to Dusty when I showed up..." I pointed out, "Give her a chance, let her explain." Kip looked at me, I could tell that he was mulling over what I had said.

When we got to Cherry's room the door was shut and through the window it looked dark, maybe she had fallen asleep. Kip and I both peeked through the window of the door and I could see the T.V. flickering. I grabbed the handle and opened the door; a sense of déjà vu hitting me as I entered the hospital room.

"Cherry, you awake?" I whispered.

"Charlie?" She asked, turning away from the T.V., "What are you doing here?" I smiled; I was glad that I didn't wake her up and that she seemed genuinely happy that I had come to visit again.

"Ah I just wanted to hang out at the hospital, you know, because it's my favourite place in the entire world." I said sarcastically, causing Cherry to laugh, "Actually I was coming to check up on you. And... I brought someone with me. "

"Who?" She asked confused.

I turned around, expecting Kip to be standing behind me but there was no one, "One second."

I walked out of the room to find Kip leaning against the wall. I shook my head, he was like a child, "Get in here you..." I said as I grabbed his hand and began pulling. Once I got Kip inside the room enough I walked back around him, letting the magic take over.

"I'll leave you two alone for a bit..." I said and promptly exited the room, they needed to talk and they weren't going to with me sitting there.

**[Cherry's PoV]**

I was glad that Charlie had come back, the hospital had been boring and lonely but I did not expect her to bring Kip along. I didn't think that he wanted to see me. Now that he was here, the two of us alone, I wasn't sure what I was going to say to him. I looked down at my hands and took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to be the first to talk. My heart was beating fast and my hands were starting to shake.

Looking up I could tell that Kip felt uncomfortable, I didn't want things to be like this, "I'm surprised that, uh, Charlie managed to get you here."

I liked Charlie, she seemed kind. She had gone over and beyond, considering we didn't know each other before today. When she was here earlier she said that she didn't like hospitals but still she came back to see me, I was touched. Not many girls liked the people who I associated with, and I hoped I would finally find someone I could be friends with. The life style I lived didn't make it easy to find any true friends, and now that all could change.

"She's pretty cool but actually I dragged her here..." Kip said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. I was happy that Kip had been the one that wanted to come here, I just wish that he wasn't angry with me. I wanted us to begin to get to know each other, and that was the only reason I was here.

"I'm really sorry Kip. I'm really sorry if I got people in trouble." I apologized.

"You can't let a club president have time with you and then show up a week later," Kip said. He was looking down at his sunglasses, he wouldn't even look at me. I felt horrible, "You know? Especially with his ol'lady on the lot..." He finally looked up at me.

"I know," I said truthfully, "But I'm not here for Clay..." Kip was the one I came here for, not some old dude. I wanted to be with Kip, I wanted to be his ol'lady.

"If you have any thoughts about pressing charges against Gemma..." Kip began.

"Never, I'm not going to," I said, cutting him off. Kip paced at the edge of my bed, I could smell the leather of his cut, a smell that I was use to. I wanted to reach out to him, to kiss him and just make him realize that I was her only for him. This was not the reunion that I had imagined.

"If anyone asks, you don't know anything about what went down at Indian Hills," He ordered.

"Nothing, I know the way it works." I knew that he was looking out for his brothers, a thing that I liked about him, but I wanted him to understand that I wasn't going to rattle any cages. I just wanted to have some time with him...

"Why the hell did you get in that cargo truck?" Kip asked sternly. He was trying to be strong, to be angry that I was here in Charming but I knew he was looking for certain answer. I smiled to myself, there was still hope of something happening for us.

"You know why," I said cryptically with a smile on my face as I looked up at him, it was obvious why I was here. Those three words made Kip start to smile, the walls of defence were quickly falling.

"No, Jesus. That can't work, you understand," Kip said. I grabbed at his arm and pulled him to sit on the side of my bed. His defences' crumbled away completely, the smile on his face growing ever so slightly. "That can't work after what went down."

"Just give me one more dance, we can take it from there." I pleaded.

"I dont think that's a good idea, cuz you know..." Kip stammered but fell silent as I moved in, locking my lips with his. I could feel his body relax, begin to accept that I was here for him, and believe in what I was saying. As I continued to kiss him, he wrapped his arms around me and I knew that I had proven my story true.

I laid back against the hospital bed, Kip moving with me. My fingers ran through his hair as my other arm was slowly moving up his shirt, stroking his soft skin. His hands were roaming freely, caressing every curve of my body, and our kisses quickly becoming heated.

This was what I wanted to happen that night we met at the patch over of the Devil's Tribe. I was ecstatic that it was finally happening.

"Guy's I got us... Oh shit, S-sorry.. I, uh..." Charlie stuttered as she registered what Kip and I were doing and quickly backed out of the room and shut the door.

I forgot that she was still in the building and that the door to my room hadn't been locked. Kip quickly climbed off of me and fixed his ruffled shirt. I started laughing, of course we were interrupted just as I managed to get Kip to kiss me. I guess I would just have to wait until I was free from the hospital.

**[Dustin's PoV]**

I was not pleased about having Charlie help with the retrieving of the guns, regardless of how quick and easy it was. I knew she had helped Tacoma out in situations like this but I didn't want to be the one to put her in this position. I was her father and what kind of dad asks his daughter to help out with collecting illegal guns? Tig was right, I had to watch my activities and behaviour now that Charlie was here.

When the guy's had asked me about her helping tonight I had tried to find a way around it, but it was a good idea and made sense. The fact that the ATF were watching our club house didn't make things easy for us. Jax had barely found a way to get the guns out of the garage before the ATF assholes attacked.

I arrived at Piney's cabin, the current location use to hold our guns. I parked my bike next to the rest and climbed off. I pulled off my helmet and left it on my seat before heading inside.

"Aye, Dusty. Just in time to help out." Bobby said.

I was greeted by my brothers, my family, as they always did; a pat on the back and a brotherly hug. When I first came to Charming these guys accepted me with open arms, making me feel at home in no time.

"It smells like shit in here," I said, stating the obvious. I saw the guns sitting on the table and checked to see if Charlie was here. I didn't see her, so I figured that she had returned to the club house.

"Them guns had been swimin' in shit for 'ours, course they're smelling like it," Chibs replied sarcastically, "Though yer we lass is most likely smellin' just as bad right about now." The guys all laughed, I was pretty sure I was out of the loop on this one.

"What happened to Charlie?" I asked. I hoped nothing too bad had happened, but I had a growing feeling I wasn't going to like what they were about to tell me.

"The gal managed to face-plant right into the puddle o'shit." Chibs explained.

"But that's not the best part," Jax mentioned.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked, with the direction this was going I was sure I didn't want to. My mind could only imagine what else could have happened. I had sent Charlie out with three guys; my mind was trying to climb its way out of the gutter but sadly that's where it remained.

"Let's just say that ol' Juicy-boy was admiring her heart panties. I'm sure he'll be stealin' a pair o' hers any time now." Chibs said before the entire room broke out into laughter. I hoped that Chibs wasn't implying what I thought he was.

I took a deep breath as I shook my head. I knew that the guys wouldn't be able to keep their eyes off her and that it would be hard to stop them from it, but for Charlie to make it so easy; I'd have to have a talk with her. I was surprised at how fatherly I was acting.

"You all sick fuckers need to stay away from her. She's off limit to everyone, young and old," I growled.

"Is she stickin' around?" Piney asked.

"She says she is but when I asked her why she came, I got a feeling that she wasn't telling me the whole story." I explained.

"If there is something more, she'll tell you when she's ready," Piney advised, "She just got here, you can't expect her to trust you after only a couple of hours. She hated you until today. Give her some time." I knew he was right, if I questioned her to much then she might just forget about staying in Charming; I wasn't sure if that was something I wanted.

"She's made an impression on the prospect," Jax said, "She went to check up on the Nevada sweetbutt after Gemma attacked her. Half sack was about to rush to the hospital and forget about the guns but Charlie explain that she was okay. Half sack is pretending that he's pissed she came here but really he's jumping for joy on the inside."

"Your girl knows to fit in quickly," Bobby remarked.

The fact that Charlie was making friends, at least I hope they were, meant she had a reason to stick around. I tried to not get my hopes up but now that she was here, made the choice to be a part of my life, I couldn't help but think of what the future held for the two of us. I should have done this sooner, Nikki had been right. I was just running away and if only I had given her a chance.

"Even so, Charlie is not to be touched by any of you freaks, not even the prospect." I demanded. These knuckle heads needed to get the message which would require me needing to reminding them constantly. I was sure that the prospect wouldn't be any trouble, now that his sweetbutt was here, but the other guy's I wasn't so sure about.

I heard the door open and turned to see Clay walk in. The ATF had finally let him out of holding and this was the first I had seen of him since this morning.

"Welcome home," Chibs greeted. Clay looked defeated, something had to have happened at the station.

Jax gave Clay a hug, "Welcome back brother." Chibs and I did the same, our president was back and safe. I sat back down as Clay greeted Bobby, Piney and Opie before sitting down in the table chair beside me.

"The feds trashed the club house but the search turned up nothing. We managed to get the guns out, "Jax explained to Clay of the day's happenings.

"Eh, wait a moment. Jackie-boy got all the guns out," Chibs said. Chibs was right, it was Jax's plan that saved us all from getting thrown into Stockton.

"Good," Clay said smiling at Jax. Jax nodded in thanks.

Clay let out a deep sigh, the day had done its toll on him, "The ATF got shit, it's all smoke."

"Yeah, they're onto the oil barrels," Bobby mentioned.

"We'll just have to get the guns out is all. By the time the warehouse is built we'll be a distant memory for the ATNF..." Clay explained. He was right, we needed to get the gun warehouse rebuilt fast, storing the guns at the garage was not a good idea. They were already knew about the oil barrels and they hadn't even been at the garage for more than 24 hours. If that wasn't a sign that we need better storage then I don't know what is. This didn't just effect our money income but also our personal lives.

Jax emerged from the kitchen with a couple of beers in his hand and offered one to Clay and myself. I cracked it open, took a swig and then returned to the gun I was assembling.

"Mom home?" Jax asked. The look that flashed on Clay's face said it all.

"She wouldn't let me post bail," He said defeated. We all made noticed, rubbing it in that Clay was in trouble.

"Shit," Jax said laughing, "She is pissed."

"Yeah, that she is..." Clay said trailing off. He looked over the remaining gun parts on the table, and shifted so that his elbows were resting on the table. He turned to look at me, "And thanks for asking your daughter for help. how'd it go tonight anyways?"

I groaned inwardly, "Went fine..."

"The old man over there is not impressed that his daughter flashed her panties at the boys." Bobby teased. I looked up at him and glared. I was quickly becoming a sore-sport when it came to teasing about Charlie.

"I don't want to know, but I'm glad that she's here for you brother, she just better stay out of trouble. And while she at it, don't make any for us." Clay said sternly. I wasn't sure how much control I had over Charlie's actions, but I would try to watch out for her and make sure she didn't do anything reckless.

Jax, changing the subject, brought up Meineke, "We're handling Meineke and his crew." Jax nodded to Opie and Piney. They had agreed that it was best if it was just the three guys, that way Meineke wouldn't expect anything out of the ordinary. While we assembled the guns, Opie was creating explosives for later.

"Piney set up a meeting for tomorrow, we'll clean this shit up," continued Jax.

"Yeah well I'm tired and my head hurts. You'll handle it," Clay said as he got up from the chair he was sitting in, "I'm, um, just going to crash here tonight."

I hadn't seen Clay this bummed out in a long time, he must really be feeling sorry towards Gemma, and her not allowing him to post bail was probably it hurt even more. As Clay left a silence fell around the room and I felt bad for the guy.

We all glanced at each other, the mood had definitely changed. We continued with the guns until they were all put together. When the job was finished each one of us trickled out of the cabin, off to our respective homes, myself included.

As I drove through the night I wondered what Charlie would be have been like, what I would have been like, if I had done as Nikki had asked. Throughout the years the pain of what I had done to Charlie grew and grew but I became skilled at hiding it almost to the point that I forgot how bad I felt. When I saw Charlie for the first time today all that pain that I had buried came back and I knew that it was time to make things right with her, finally make Nikki proud.

**[Juice's PoV]**

I didn't stay long after dropping the guns off at Piney's cabin, I returned to the club house for the night. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down in front of the computer, trying to pull up some more information on Meineke and the shooting earlier. I cracked open my beer and took a sip, the cold contents relaxing me.

As I searched the internet my thoughts began to wander to Dusty's daughter, Charlie. From the interactions that I'd had with her thought the day I was sure that she was not a fan of me. I didn't know what I had done but it was clear what she thought of me. I was not use to people disliking me so quickly and it bothered me.

I had barely talked to her today yet I found her interesting. She was feisty and out spoken, which reminded me a lot of Gemma. Did we need a second Gemma around though? Surely one was more than enough. Still, that was not deterring me from thinking about her.

Soon enough I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the club house doors open, and a voice disturbing the silence I was enjoying. I turned around as Charlie walked in, her phone at her ear. I tried not to listen to what she was talking since I was already caught eves dropping once before.

"I miss you too, Austin. It's not the same without you," She said into the phone as she sat on one of the bar stools. Austin? Was that her guy back in Tacoma?

"Yes, I promise that Kip won't replace you, you don't have to worry. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Love you." She said before she hung up the phone.

I stood up and walked over to her, walking towards the bartender's side of the bar. She watched as I approached and I smiled at her, I tried to show her that I was here to be friendly. Thankfully Charlie didn't give me a dirty look or walk away, all I got was a questioning glance.

"Can I get you something?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll take a beer," Charlie replied. I pulled out a cold one, opened it and gave it to her. "Thanks."

"I'm sorry for making fun of your, uh, underwear." I apologized. Surprisingly she started to laugh, something that I was not expecting.

"Don't worry about it," She said smiling, "I haven't exactly been the friendliest person today. Sorry about snapping at you. Twice."

I came around the bar and sat down beside her, my arms resting on the counter and my beer in my hands, "I think the two of us started off on the wrong foot."

"I agree," She said, taking a drink of her beer.

"Who was that you were on the phone with? Your boyfriend?" I asked, although not sure why as it wasn't any of my business. Again Charlie laughed.

"Oh god no. Austin is my closest friend, like a brother," She explained, "His parent's took me in after my mom passed away. He's more so my family than Dustin is." She looked down at the beer in her hands, a smile on her face, she must be thinking about him, "Austin was always there when ever I needed someone. Helped me through the tough times."

"You know, we have similar situations. I never got to know my dad either," I mentioned. Our histories were a little different, she actually knows who her dad is, where I didn't know at all.

"You've never met your dad? Have you ever gone to look for him?" She asked, turning her head to look at me. I paused for a moment, caught in her gaze. Charlie had blue eyes, different from Dusty's brown eyes, and they were bright and warm. I was enthralled by them, the bright colour of her eye was enticing. I hadn't notice how vivid they were, her eyes were gorgeous.

"Juice?" She said, startling me.

"Ah, sorry. Yeah, I've never met my dad, don't think I ever will." I said and took a drink of my beer, I felt embarrassed about what just happened. I had to admit that Charlie was attractive, any guy would have done as I had just done.

"That's too bad. I'm sure you get enough love here to fill that gap. On the outside all the guy's seem like hard ass criminals, but like the guys back home, you're all big ol' softies." She teased while laughing.

"Hey, that's a secret. No one's suppose to say it out loud." I was liking this interaction between us, much better than before. When her defence was down and she wasn't guarded she was fun; exactly like Kip said.

"Well, I'm off to bed," Charlie announced as she got off the bar stool, "I volunteered to pick Cherry up tomorrow from the hospital, so an early morning for me." She downed the rest of the beer, I was impressed. I didn't think she had consumed as much as she did.

"Night," I said, looking over my shoulder and watched her walk off, disappearing down the hall.

"Goodnight, Panty thief," I heard her call out from the hall and I chuckled to myself. I was glad that we changed the situation between us, started over in a way. I remained at the bar, sipping my beer for a while longer. Then I too disappeared to the back of the club house, entering the room I occupied. Tomorrow would be another day for me to get to know Charlie.

**[Charlie's PoV]**

The next morning I was up bright and early, ready to start my day even with the lack of sleep from last night's adventure's. I quickly showered and dressed comfortably. I threw on a pair of jean shorts and a loose-fitting Aztec patterned blue and pink tank top. I slipped on my grey Keds and grabbed my purse and car keys.

As I walked out of my room I collided with someone, "Oh, sorry." I looked up and saw that it was Juice.

"That's the second time we've run into each other. If it happens again, I'll start thinking you're up to something." I teased.

"I'm already thinking it." He said smiling down at me.

We both head down the hall towards the main room and I wondered why he was here.

"You're here early," I asked.

"Like you, I sleep here too," He explained, "Kinda like a guard dog."

I laughed at his analogy, he gave himself a double-sided compliment.

"You off to get Cherry?" He asked. I nodded in response.

"Yes, and... I'm running a little late. I'll see you later," I said before darting out the club doors. As I move towards my car, a smile grew on my face. I was glad that I was giving Juice a second chance.

I climbed into my car, which was already grossly hot inside, and drove off to the hospital. Even though I was not use to the constant heat of Charming, I was enjoying it; all my windows were down and my sunglasses were constantly needed.

A while later I arrive at St. Thomas and waited for Cherry to come out. While I waited I pulled out my phone, flicked it open and selected Jax's number from my contact's list.

"Hey, darlin'. How's it going" Jax greeted on the other end.

"Hey Jax. Just wondering if Gemma got home alright last night," I asked. I did feel bad about not going to see her yesterday but I figured that she needed some time to cool off, I'd see her later today.

"She didn't let Clay post bail and stayed locked up all night. Clay's actually gone to pick her up," He said.

"Shit. Hey Jax, I got a question."

"Shoot, what is it?"

"I'm just waiting to pick up Cherry, you think it's best if I try to keep her away from the garage?" I asked. I knew it would be a tough thing to do, given the fact that Cherry would want to see Kip right away but I would try my best.

"Most likely. If you can, maybe try to convince her to go back to Nevada? Tell her something like, she can get to know Half-sack over the phone? We don't need an angry Gemma, it's bad for everyone." Jax said jokingly, though I guess it was true.

"I'll try," I said.

"I heard you gave the guy's a little show on the way back to the cabin last night. Dusty didn't seem too impressed when he found out. He's threatened everyone to keep their hands and eyes off you." Jax teased. I groaned as he spoke, I should have guess that everyone would find out about that some way or another.

"It wasn't a show, I had no other choice," I defended. I saw Cherry coming out of the hospital doors, "Oh, I have to go. Cherry's heading this way."

I said good-bye to Jax and shut the phone just as Cherry climbed in the car. I noticed that ger face was still bruised, which would probably last for a few weeks. But over all she didn't look too damaged.

"Thanks for picking me up," She said.

"It's not a problem," I replied and started up my car, "You hungry?"

"Completely," said Cherry, "You think after you could take me to see Half sack?"

I knew this question would be coming, "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Gemma might be there and I don't want you to get hurt any more than you already have."

I wanted to take her to Kip, but like Jax and I agreed, she needed to stay away for a while.

"I guess you're right." She said with a sigh.

I didn't know Charming well so as I drove I had to stick to roads I knew, but quickly I regretted my choice of road. I passed by the police department and as I passed Gemma and Clay were out front. "Shit..."

"Stop the car," Cherry demanded, startling me. I pulled over to the side of the road and put my car in park. I was worried that she would do something drastic, and sure enough I was correct. "Now don't do anything drastic. Cherry, listen. Women like Gemma are tough, you don't mess with them. When they have an issue with..."

"Stay here," She ordered and got out of the car.

"Cherry! God damn it..." I climbed out of my car, but stopped as Cherry walked towards Gemma and Clay. I half expected Gemma to hit Cherry again as soon as she saw her but thankfully that didn't happen.

It felt like hours passed before Cherry returned to my car, the entire time I thought for sure that she would get decked. I was thankful as she climbed into my car, no more bruised than before she climbed out.

"What the fuck was that?" I blurted out, "You're crazy for going over there. What was the point of that anyways." I shifted out of park and started driving.

"Calm down. Now let's get some breakfast, and after... We're free to go see Kip," Cherry said with a devilish grin.

I looked at her and shook my head, "Like I said... You're crazy." I was beginning to realize that Cherry really was here only for Kip.

As we drove I started to wonder, wonder what it was like to want someone that badly. Cherry wanted to be with Kip bad enough that she walked up to the person that had assaulted her, I was impressed. I was surprised with myself as Juice's face popped into my thoughts and just as quickly as it popped up, I pushed them out of my mind.

Right now all that I wanted to think about was getting my life together and deciding how long I was going to stay in Charming.


	5. Strange Fruit

**I know that this chapter/update has taken a while and I'm sorry. I've had a lot of personal issues and changes happen since my last update and to be honest writing my fanfiction was not high on the to-do list. But I touched it every so often and finally it was finished. I think this one and the previous chapter were a little slower/dryer than chapter 2 but this is setting up for more of my ideas. I've plotted out almost the entire first season and I've got more ideas for the the rest of the seasons. I hope you all enjoy this update, I'm working on the next one and hopefully I had get it up sooner than this one! Enjoy~**

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**[Jax PoV]**

The last twenty-four hours had not been easy, from ATF agents trashing the club house to smuggling out the guns without them knowing. It didn't help that the feds were brough onto us by Nate Meineke and a bunch of crazy 'survivalists'.

I, along with Piney and Opie, had to take care of that issue this morning. I wasn't too please with the way things had turned out, but it was needed. Our club had to get out from the ATF spot light. If they stuck around and watched us, our gun business would be at too great of a risk. I was sad for the lives that were lost at our hands, the explosives had gone off perfectly, yet at the same time I was relieved that our problems was taken care of.

After taking care of Meineke I drove out to visit Trammel to smooth things over with him. When I got there I knew that he was not pleased with the visit, he hadn't been please with helping us for a long time. The fact that his partner was killed because of the club did not help. Though that all changed after I gave him the cash with the little extra inside. Trammel was a good guy and had helped us in many situations, making him deserve that cash all the more. Regardless, cash was not equal to someone's life, and it should not be so easy to remedy a death with such means.

This morning had been a busy one, but I was glad that the two important items were dealt with. Now I could go see my kid and relax, though I knew it wouldn't last long.

Walking through the hospital, unfazed by the smell of floor cleaner and bleach, I spotted Tara coming through a swinging door. I nodded to her in greeting and walked up to her. She smiled as I got closer

"You okay?" She asked, startling me.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was going past the club house yesterday, I saw these cops..."

"Nah, It was a bunch of bullshit. We got this ATF agent harassing us, following me. He showed up here, the guy's nuts. He's looking for dirt that doesn't exist" I explained to her. The life that I lived made Tara felt uncomfortable and it was a reason to why she left years ago. I didn't like talking too much about the club with her, I felt uneasy laying all our problems on her; yet I was caught up in how it was so easy to do so. I'd been closed off since she returned to Charming but the energy between us was still there.

I turned to look at Tara and she looked worried, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey I was wondering... You know that girl who your mother hit with the skate board yesterday?" Tara asked while we walked down the hall together.

"Yeah, the Nevada Girl. Anything wrong? My mother didn't hit her again did she?" I was curious as to why Tara was bring her up, she wasn't really my issue to deal with.

"No, nothing like that. There was another girl who came by to visit her. She seemed suspicious but at the same time I wasn't completely sure. She said she was a friend but I didn't sure, yet I let her go in. She was short with brown hair and blue eyes, sound familiar?" Tara asked.

"Ah, you're talking about Charlie."

"Charlie?"

"Yeah, she's Dusty's daughter. She just showed up two days ago hoping to get to know her old man. She's harmless, for the most part. All she was doing was making sure that the Nevada girl was okay since she was there when my mom hit her." I explain, but I could tell from the look on Tara's face that there was something else, "Tara, you sure you're okay?"

"Uh yeah. Hey, I'm just finished my rounds, you mind giving me a ride home?" She asked.

"Sure. What's going on?" I asked, starting to become very concerned.

"It's just been a shitty day, my nerves are shot." She said. I could tell that she was trying to be strong but I wasn't going to push.

"Alright, I'll be with the kid." I said and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks," She said smiling up at me before turning back around and walking away.

I had a feeling that something bad was going on, that Tara wasn't telling me something. I wanted to be there for her, be someone who she could open-up to but... I wasn't sure if I was ready to open up that way yet. Everything that had happened with Wendy and the kid, I just didn't know if I wanted to let anyone, especially Tara, back in.

As I walked away I thought about what could be bothering Tara but was interrupted when my phone started ringing, it was Charlie. Charlie, as much as she tried to come of tough, was very caring. She'd only been here two days and she was already looking out for someone. I guessed that Charlie had issues with abandonment and tried to not get close to anyone, to a point. She was weary of people and but she seemed like she wanted to help; It was obvious by the way she was helping Half Sack and Cherry come together.

On the phone Charlie explained that she was worried about Cherry and wanted to know what she should do since she was picking the girl up from the hospital. I chuckled to myself, we were probably not that far away from each other but here we were one the phone, no wonder face-to-face communication was dying.

The both of us agreed that it was best to keep Cherry away from the club house, another attack from Gemma was not needed. I had a feeling that Half Sack wasn't going to like the idea of get Cherry to return to Nevada. He was thrilled that she was here, but Charlie said agreed to give it a shot.

I waited for Tara and about half hour later she was with me. We talked casually as we left the hospital, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was keeping something from me, she seemed on edge. We climbed on to my bike, and headed out towards her house. I noticed a suspicious car pull out immediately after we did, but disregarded it and continued.

The ride was short, Charming wasn't a big place to begin with and shortly after we pulled up outside of Tara's house. A part of me wanted the ride to be longer, for Tara to keep her arms wrapped around my waist a little longer but I knew that it wasn't going to happen. She climbed off my bike first, a smile finally on her face. I was glad to see that she had relaxed a bit.

"Appreciate the lift" She said thanking me as she pulled off the spare bike helmet.

"No problem. Where's the Cutlass?" I asked, realizing there was no car beside my bike. I stuffed the spare helmet in one of the saddle bags after Tara handed it back to me.

"It's at the hospital."

"Still not running right?" Tara had recently brought it in for some work and if one of our guys messed up her car even more than it was they'd have some explaining to do. I noticed that Tara was surveying the road, like she was looking for something before she answered. I waited for her to answer my current question before I grilled her even more about her cautious mood.

"Uh, It's running okay," She answered.

I turned to look down the street and then back to Tara, "This feeling of worry I'm getting here. Does it have anything to do with the car that's been following us?" I asked.

The car was parked a short ways down the road and it had followed us the entire way since leaving the hospital parking lot. It didn't do a very good job of being under cover or stealthy, so it was safe to assume that it had trailed us. I didn't recognize the car but that didn't help my suspicions that it was following us because of Tara, not myself.

As I mentioned the car that had trailed us, the look of shock that flashed on Tara's face increased my suspicions. She looked around trying to spot the car that I had pointed out.

"The compact parked half way down the block." I directed.

Once Tara spotted the car she slowly started backing away, her posture rigid as if she had seen a ghost. Now I was completely sure that this car was the source to Tara's discomfort today. She rushed towards her front door, scrabbling for the keys. I had never seen her this frantic. I followed her, and called out her name, "Tara, the hell's going on?"

I wanted answers. Tara paused where she was on the steps before turning to face me, yet once again she looked around to make sure she was safe. I wasn't liking this situation.

"That ATF agent that's been looking into you guys... I think he's here for me." She said, her voice quivering.

"What?"

"I was with him in Chicago..." She said, now starting to sound stressed, "It got violent, I tried to end it. He started stalking me."

As her last words rang in my ear, _he started stalking me_, I was ready to hurt someone, specifically the person driving the compact. It enraged me that Tara felt this scared of someone. Charming was a place that was kept safe by the Sons, the club I was Vice President of, but somehow this sick fucker had managed to slip in through the cracks.

"Jax, don't... He's dangerous!"

"Go back inside Tara. Lock the door." I commanded.

Without another thought I turned and walked away from Tara and towards the car. My pulse beginning to race with my rising anger, I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I knew I had to do something.

As I got closer to the car the guy sitting inside, the same guy that was at the Charming Fundraiser BBQ and was watching me with Able, tried to pretend like he was surprised I was walking over. In an act of rage I pulled out my knife, a grin appearing on my face.

With a quick and precise move I jabbed the knife into the front end of the car, the sound of the radiator hissing leaked from the front vents. Steam escaped through the vents and the ATF scum climbed out of his car.

"Vandalism, a deadly weapon. That's six months in county, Asshole." The bastard said, trying to act tough, as if he was the victim here.

"Violating a restraining order, you'll be in the cell next to me..." I shot back, "They teach you how to suck a dick in ATF School?"

"Bad ass biker..."

"You guys gave it your best shot, you got nothing on SAMCRO." I said, "And you harassing Tara, that ends here or next time it won't be some piece of shit car I'm draining fluid from."

"You threatening a federal agent?" He asked, trying to be cocky.

"I'm threatening you... Go away, it's my last warning." I said before turning and walking away.

The creep had better do as I say, before he found himself serious hurt. I was raging with anger as I got back to my bike. I saw Tara looking through the window from behind the curtains but I didn't go to the door. I quickly shoved my helmet on, fastened it and climbed on to my bike. A swift kick to my bike and it started up with a healthy purr. I backed out of the drive way but paused before taking off. I looked down the street and noticed that the car was still in its place but the ATF agent was no longer around, he got the message.

I wasn't going to stop there. After leaving Tara's I headed straight for Charming PD, I need to have a serious talk with Hale about his new ATF friend and his soon-to-end visit in Charming.

As I stormed into the office of Charming PD I gained many curious looks. Hale looked up as I got closer, my brows furrowed. He could tell that I was not pleased, that I was heading for him.

"You better reign in your ATF boyfriend," I barked.

"Agent Kohn isn't on my payroll, I don't keep tabs," Hale said. He was picking the wrong time to be a smart ass.

"Well maybe you should. He's not here for SAMCRO, Hale. He's here for Tara."

"What the hell you talking about?"

"This guy was stalking her in Chicago. He thinks she came back to Charming to be with me. I'm telling you, this guy is nuts and he's going to hurt her." I said, trying to calm myself down.

The look on Hale's face did not help, "Jesus Christ... That's who she had a restraining order against..."

"You knew?" I was baffled at the fact that Hale could let this psycho near Tara.

"No, but it makes sense now." Hale let out a stressful sigh.

"Hale!" Called out Chief Unser, both Hale and I turned to look at him, "Let's go hot-shot. Water and Power just dug up some old bones out on 44..."

"I'll be there in a minute." He answered.

Hale and I exchanged a questioning glance. Hale's was asking if we had anything to with these bones; I had a feeling that I couldn't deny it. I would ask Clay about them when I saw him later, I hoped to god that he told me different.

"Kohn is my problem, I will handle it." Hale said.

"You better, man or I'm going to." I threatened.

Hale was the first to walk away, and I let out a deep sigh. I was still on edge, rather pissed that this Kohn guy was harassing Tara. If Hale didn't take care of it immediately then I would have to step in. I didn't linger in the police station for long any promptly returned to my bike. I left Charming PD and headed straight for T-M. Now I was tasked with finding out about the recently dug up bones. Today was shaping up to be just as horrible as yesterday.

As I pulled up to Teller-Morrow I saw the guys standing around the boxing ring, all hooting and hollering at the show going on. I parked and walked over to the group, the first thing I saw was that the Nevada sweetbutt was here. I saw Gemma's Roadster in the too. Charlie was clearly unsuccessful in her attempt to convince Cherry to leave. I wondered where Charlie was.

The guy's, from what I caught of the conversation, were talking about the Prospect, his training, and an upcoming bare-knuckle fight. At the Friday club parties it was usual for a couple of rounds of boxing to break out and for us, Half Sack was our secret weapon. I quickly checked the faces of who was here, looking for Charlie to find out why the Nevada girl was here, but did not see her among the crowd.

As I walked up I was greeted by the guys, I pulled up a keg, using it as a seat.

I sat beside Dusty, and asked "Where's Charlie?"

"Uh, said she had to go out and grab some thing for herself. Why? Something wrong?" Dusty answered, instantly looking paranoid.

"Nothing's wrong, I know she was picking up the Nevada girl from the hospital and thought she would be around." I didn't want to upset Dusty, so I refrained from telling him I wanted to question his daughter.

"How's the Prospect coming?" I asked.

"The Prospect's workin' fast, got a great right hook," Chibs assured.

"How much money gets thrown around at these bare-fist things?" Clay asked, I knew he was only looking for another way to gain money for the club. Just this time it was Half-Sack that was the pawn in his plan.

"The purse is okay, but it's the betting that's gone crazy," Tig answered as he took off his sunglasses and hooked them on his shirt, "I know a couple of guys who made six figures each."

"The Prospect could knock and one of those guy out any day of the week." Chibs commented, Tig stating his agreement. Chibs was often the one who helped Half Sack train, so he would have the best judge of his skill. I was sure that Chibs was training him correctly and he was sure to win any fight he was put in.

"What have we pulled together for McKeavey?" Clay asked. I guessed that this question would help him decide if we should bet or not.

"A hundred and twenty thousand..." Bobby answered, he was the one who dealt with our money. Bobby looked over to where Clay was looking and resulting in us following as well.

Half sack and Cherry were sitting together on the other picnic bench, completely wrapped in their own world. The two were acting like they were in a serious committed relationship, that everything was fine and dandy and were hopelessly in love. It was the complete opposite as the day before when Half Sack was resisting Cherry's purrs of temptation.

"You're not thinking of betting on the Prospect?" Bobby asked.

"We don't necessarily have to be betting _for_ Half Sack..." Dusty mentioned.

"You know if Half Sack takes his first five fights and looks strong going into the end, we control how it ends. It could be a big pay day." Tig said, elaborating on Dusty's comment. The two of them were the big gamblers of the club, of course they were already on board with the plan and trying to sell it.

Clay turned to me, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully, shaking my head, "But I do know that there is no way we're raising 80 grand in four days, so... It might be our only shot."

Clay looked back over to the Prospect, summing up his stance on everything, "Alright, I'm in."

Bobby seemed hesitant, but finally gave his agreement.

With that, the decision was made. We were going to rig the fight in our favour. Not the most ethical things to do, but during a bare-fist fight, how ethical did you have to be. I wondered if the Prospect would have a problems with the idea, he seemed to enjoy his fights and probably wanted to win so he could show off to Cherry.

"Bet fifty grand, and I want to see it triple," Clay said pointing to Tig before Chibs, "And you're going to train him. No booze, no weed and no pussy."

"That include the Nevada sweetbutt?" Bobby asked.

"Until I'm up a hundred grand, that little Cherry tart can cool on the counter." Clay said making his point obvious.

We all stood up, the mini meeting being dismissed, Chibs walking over to Half Sack and directing him on his new training regimen. While Clay and Bobby began to chat over something, I stood up and walked over to where Dusty had wandered to.

He lit up a fresh cigarette and I followed suit. Dusty was a lot like Tig, just a little less perverted and more reserved. Out of a group of loud outlaws, Dusty was by far the quietest of the bunch. As long as I could remember he had always been that way.

Dusty was the kind of guy that always seemed to be listening, taking in what was being said around him. Many of us turned to him when we needed a reminder of what had been said before. He often could tell us what was said weeks before, even sometimes about conversation's he wasn't participating in.

"Your daughter seems to be making some friends around here. She even went as far as to pick up the Nevada sweetbutt from the hospital." I said as I pulled out my own cigarettes.

"Yeah, I heard about that from Juice this morning. He mentioned that she had left early to pick her up," Dusty said.

"Juice? I thought Chibs had said that it seemed like Charlie was giving him the cold shoulder the entire time they were collecting guns." I said, wondering if things had changed.

"Yeah, seems like it. He said he caught her as she was leaving and that she seemed more approachable, more relaxed and open."

"Well, it's great that she's sticking around for you. She seems like a level headed girl" I pointed out.

"Thanks, it's weird knowing that she's here and staying in a room that's only a few feet away from where we're right now. You know, I resisted for so long and now I'm scare shitless. I want to invite her to stay with me but I'm not sure if she'd accept, I don't want to push her too soon."

I was surprised that Dusty was considering something like that so soon. It was a give-in that Charlie would stay at the club house for as long as she wanted, she was family and family was welcome at any time. It was interesting to see the complete change in him, it seemed as if he had been waiting for a moment to try being a father, he just needed someone else to make it happen.

"You could give her the option, tell her that it's there if she wants to take it. I mean, what's the worse she could do? Say no? If she doesn't accept your offer then you would still see her, she's living here in the club house. Take a chance," I said and patted him on the shoulder, "It might just be the gesture that she needs to open up to you. Show her there you're willing too."

Dustin nodded, mulling over what I had just said. A necessary silence fell between us as we stood smoking our cigarette.

"Hey, Jax!" Clay called out, pulling my attention away from Dusty, "Call Unser. See if he wasn't in on any of this fight action"

I apologized to Dusty for stepping away, and caught up to Clay and Tig, "Clay..." I said, "He's out on the job. Water and Power dug up some old bones this morning."

"Where?" He asked.

"Out on 44..."

Clay and Tig exchanged a glance and I knew that something was up, "What?"

Clay just turned around and walked away. I turned back to Tig who was shaking his head and followed Clay. It was never a good thing when Tig was involved, as we recently learned when our warehouse burnt down with two Mexican's Tig was enjoying inside. I could only imagine what kind of secret this could lead to.

Later the three of us ended up out on 44, concealed by the trees so that the cops couldn't see us. Tig and Clay reluctantly shared that it was SAMCRO who were responsible for them, my guess affirmed. I knew that this was not something that we needed right now, not after just finishing with the Meineke situation this morning.

Considering recently we had to steal two burnt bodies that Tig had tapped shortly before. It seemed as if things were just piling up and each time things got crazier. I prayed that this wasn't going to become a regular occurrence for us, even this small amount of shit was tiring.

**[Juice's PoV]**

I had the day off from the garage, and decided to actually leave the Teller-Morrow grounds. I had tried to spend my day hanging around the club house but my thoughts got too distracting. Throughout the morning my mind kept wandering to Charlie, something I tried to resist. I did not want to get tangled up with any woman associated with a member of SAMCRO. I did not want to cross that line but I was being pulled me across.

Up until last night each time I had walked to her I received only the cold shoulder, but with the change of heart by her last night, something had changed. I had the uneasy urge to get to know her, to simply talk to her but I didn't know how to get close to her. The last thing I wanted was her to revert back to disliking me; that would be a step away from what I wanted.

So in a sad attempt to distract myself, I went shopping. Great, I was being a girl. I pulled into the parking lot of the local grocery store and parked my bike. While I was climbing off my bike when I heard an argument break out between two people. From the sound of the raised voices I guessed that it was a man and a woman. I disregarded the argument, it wasn't my place but as I got closer I thought I recognized the female voice.

When I saw who the voice belonged to I stopped walking, every thought left my mind and all I could think about was that Charlie was being hurt. I also recognised the guy that was with her, it was Darby. He had his meaty fist wrapped around her wrists, and she was struggling against his hold.

Darby and his gang of Nords were sort of a rival group to the Sons. We butted heads with the Nords often because the Sons did not let any Crank in its borders and the Nord's main income was crank. Darby often tried to set his shop up inside Charming, but we usually found out and shut it down.

I was surprised to see the two together, I wondered what had happened for Charlie to catch the attention of Darby.

"You look familiar? Do I know you?" Darby asked her.

"Of course not, I don't associate with scum like you." She said struggling against Darby's hold. She seemed very irritated and on the defence. Something serious must have happened.

"Charlie!" I yelled, running over to them, "Let her go Darby."

Charlie turned to see me come up, but my presence didn't help to change the expression on her face. She was definitely in a foul mood, something that seemed to be a regular occurrence for her.

"The Puerto Rican Son..." Darby said as he caught sight of me, "So you're affiliated with SAMCRO..." He looked Charlie over again, but didn't let go of her wrist and Charlie continued struggling to get loose.

I came up beside Charlie, trying to assess how best to help her. "Let her go Darby, or all it takes is one quick phone call and the entire club will be here, including her father." I knew that Dusty would not be pleased to know that Darby had man handled his daughter.

Darby's expression changed, "Manning. You're Dusting Manning's daughter aren't you? I see it now."

With that knowledge of who she was, Darby let go of Charlie's wrist and she quickly pulled her arm towards her body. The next thing I knew Charlie's foot connected with Darby's groin, and then she took off.

"If you ever go near her again, you'll have SAMCRO to answer to." I said, threatening Darby before turning and chasing after Charlie.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out. Charlie wasn't running anymore but was walking quickly, so I was able to catch up to her. I placed my hand on her shoulder to stop her, but was greeted with a solid punch to the face. For a moment I was dazed and my hand came up to where her fist had made contact with my cheek, a black eye would likely develop. Charlie had a pretty solid punch, she could give Half Sack a running for his place in the upcoming match.

"You sure have a knack for punching people in the face, not to mention the ball sack too." I said jokingly. Right away I regretted that statement, figuring that I would receive another punch for it.

She seemed to have calmed down, but she was frowning, "Sorry about that. But you should have let me take care of that!"

"Because you were doing a great job..."

"I don't need anyone to fight my battles, let alone a guy I just met. I'm been doing fine all my life, I don't need someone to start coming to my defence on silly things like that." She snapped, anger present in her tone.

"Why was Darby harassing you anyway?" I asked.

"The guy was trying to hit on me. He thought I was an easy target and I turned around and punched him in the face, same side as you." She answered calmly.

From what I had witnessed since meeting Charlie, she was the kind of girl that swings first and asked questions after. That was a bad combination and would definitely get her into more trouble than Darby had given her.

"Come on, let's get you some ice before you swell up." She said, but it seemed more like an order.

We had gathered some ice, a bag, and a towel from a gas station before sitting down in a nearby park. Charlie had calmed down completely from the incident and was being kind again, the way she was last night.

"I'm really sorry about punching you. It's a habit I got into when the guy's hands started to wander without permission. One solid fist to the face often made them back off." She explained, looking down at the ice she was wrapping in the towel.

We were sitting at a picnic bench, facing each other and while she was looking down I had a moment to look her over. I noticed that her own cheek was puffy and her lip too. Before I could stop myself I was holding her face in my hands and forced her to look up at me. "What happened? Did Darby hit you?" I asked, my body quickly becoming hot with anger.

I could tell that she wanted to be angry, her expression said it clearly but she was calming herself down. She gently pushed my hands away from her face and a small smile grew on her face, "It's nothing."

She then placed the cold bag against my cheek, causing me to wince which resulted in a laugh from Charlie. It was a wonderful sound and it was surprising to hear, when she was around me she was usually not in a happy mood.

"What, the bad ass biker boy can't handle cold ice against his cheek?" She teased.

"Ha ha, very funny." I replied, "But seriously Charlie, what happen with Darby before I got?"

"He didn't like the punch, that I was defending myself, and that I wasn't letting him touch what he wanted. So he back handed me..." She said calmly as she held the cold compress to my face. If I hadn't been sitting so close to her I probably would not have noticed at all. Tough no one should be hit, especially for defending themselves against unwanted advances.

I felt bad that she had to go through that, yet I had a unwelcomed feeling that this had happened to her before. Her voice, expression, and reaction to it all was a bit too unfazed for a first time incident. I guessed that if this was a first time that Charlie would be crying, girls usually couldn't handle that kind of thing. Though Charlie didn't seem like the kind of girl to cry in public, she was a anger person, anger before any other emotion.

"Don't look at me like that," She mumbled, "I'll be fine, just don't tell the guys. It will more of a problem than it already is."

"You can't ask me to do that," I protested, "Darby isn't on good terms with SAMCRO, and they have to hear about this."

"If you tell them about this, and the guys retaliate it could potentially create another incident..." She said trying to convince me, "Besides, if I wanted people to know I'd tell them myself. Also I don't want to be some sort of chess piece used to fuel your gang violence."

Charlie pulled away her hand and the cold towel and I caught sight of her wrist, "How are you going to hide a fat lip and a bruised wrist?" I asked.

"You don't need to defend me, to try to be my knight-in-shinning-armour. Just because I came to Charming to get to know my father doesn't mean that he needs to know everything that goes on. Before I got here he barely gave a shit about what went on in my life and I'd like to keep it that way." She snapped.

"You can't have it both ways... Either you keep what was between you and your father like it was, or make something together. If you choose the second option then you have to let him into your life." I snapped back. The situation between Dusty and Charlie wasn't really any of my business, but Dusty was my brother, and from what I saw, he wanted open up to his daughter. She seemed to be the one holding back.

I knew I had angered her again. Charlie got up from the bench and tossed the ice and towel into my lap before turning and walking off.

"Charlie, don't leave." I called out after her as I scrambled to get up and chase after her. I felt like all I was doing today was chasing after her. I caught up with her, this time though I didn't grab her shoulder. I darted in front of her, forcing Charlie to stop.

"Look, you don't know anything about me and you don't know anything about how I deal with things. You can stuff you opinions where the sun don't shine..."

"I don't like it but I won't tell the guys. But in exchange for my silence you have to promise me that if Darby, or anyone, tries to hurt you; you'll call me." I asked. I didn't want to over step my boundaries, but I had the desire to try to protect Charlie, even though she refused any help.

After rolling her eyes, Charlie pulled out her cell phone and offered it to me, "Fine, if it will keep you quiet, then enter your number."

I grabbed the phone and entered my number. "Good," I said and handed it back to her.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have some shopping to do." She said, while stuffing the phone back into her purse. She gave me a quick look before darting around me and walking away.

I turned and watched her walk away. Even though I said I would not tell the guys about this, I had a feeling that I was not making the right choice. Yet at the same time I was positive that either way I would be breaking the trust of someone and I had to choose whose I was willing to break.

**[Charlie's PoV] **

I couldn't believe how easy it was for me to give Juice my cell phone. I usually made guys work for it, not that I had much experience in that area and the last relationship hadn't been the healthiest. But I knew I wanted Juice to have my number, so when the prime opportunity came, I willingly took it. I was just so surprised at my willingness, I was supposed to be annoyed with him.

I was still annoyed with Juice trying to be my "hero"; I could take care of myself. I had gotten out of situations far worse than that before and no one had come to help me. Even though I was upset, I couldn't help but smile as I walked away and left Juice standing on the street; it was sweet that he was concerned when he saw my cheek and lip. God I was so back and forth about this guy, what was going on with me.

I brought my hand up to touch my cheek where I had been struck, it was sore even to a tender touch. I just hoped that it wasn't bruising, I didn't want it to be too obvious. Dusting would instantly want to know what happened.

It was a short walk back to the grocery store but before completely turning the corner I checked to see if that guy, Darby, was still hanging around. I was relieved when he wasn't and it was safe to go inside the store. I entered the store, grabbed a shopping basket and slowly walked along the aisles of food. It was strangely peaceful walking down the rows and checking each things to see what I wanted. I eventually got lost in my own thoughts but was brought back to reality when I heard someone came up beside me.

"When did you and Juice become such good friends?" I heard them ask me, causing me to jump in surprise. When I realized whose voice it was I smiled to myself.

"Hi Gemma... And I- I don't know what you're talking about," I answered as I turned to look at her.

"Sure, you do baby. Handing your phone to him, getting his number..." Gemma teased as she reached for an item.

"Talk to Juice, it was him who was forcing his number on me." I answered dryly, I wanted Gemma to think I was not interested in the subject, which I wasn't. I was not happy that someone had seen the interactions between Juice and I; it was the last thing that I needed right now.

"Don't be so hard on the guy. The guy's aren't use to new faces around here, especially pretty ones." Gemma commented, a smirk pulling at the corners of her lips, "Besides, a little harmless flirting doesn't hurt anyone. Just be careful of your father. His fatherly protective button turned on the moment you showed up in Charming."

"I hope you won't be relating what you saw to any one, especially Dustin. That way I won't have to deal with his 'protectiveness'."

"I won't, on the condition that you don't cause trouble for my boys." Gemma said with a stern look. Right away as soon as I arrived, I could tell that Gemma was The waves of my past washed over me as I briefly brought it up, the memories stinging.

"I'm not saying that you have to stay away completely," Gemma said and to stand in front of me and she held my face in her hands like Juice had done early, "Just don't cause any trouble, like a certain cherry tart that came galloping into town recently."

She smiled at me and patted my cheek before turning and walking away, putting an end to our conversation. It was clear from Gemma's comment that Cherry's decision to stick around didn't sit well with her. I just hoped that nothing else would happen between the two. I had tried to talk to her, tell her that there would be too much drama at the club house, but she was adamant that Gemma was okay with it.

"Thanks for the support..." I said to myself, as Gemma walk away.

So much had already happened while being in Charming for a short time. I wasn't sure how I liked it but it was an interesting place, the people were interesting as well. I thought about staying in town, not only for my father but so I could get to know these people. I wasn't going to rush the decision on how long I would stay, just take each day, each interaction as they came.

After finishing up my shopping I returned to the club house and dropped my spoils of the day inside my room. When I walked back into the club house I instantly spotted that Juice was there, and for a moment our eyes locked. Without a second look I turned and headed straight for the back of the club house. I really hoped that he was keeping his promise and didn't tell anyone what had happened. My lip had gone down a bit and I hoped that it wasn't noticeable.

Feeling rather sticky, I decided to freshen up before heading back out. I washed my face and changed my outfit. When I was ready I headed back out. Surveying the large room I took in everything and everyone. The first person my sight landed on was Juice, sitting in the corner on the computer. Dustin had noticed me and motioned for me to come over.

"Hey..." I greeted as I sat down in a chair across from him.

Chibs was beside him and both had a beer in hand. I laughed to myself, it was only just after noon and they were already drinking. Even here in Charming the drinking was excessive.

Where I was sitting my back was to Juice, but I could feel that he was watching. He was probably waiting for me to fess up about the incident at the store. I wasn't going to talk about it if it wasn't brought up by someone else.

"You ran off early this morning." Dustin said, "Do you already have a secret Rendezvous with someone?"

Dustin and Chibs both chuckled, gaining them an annoyed look from me and I let out a sarcastic laugh before speaking, "Real funny. I just went to the store to grab some things. I didn't pack much when I left Tacoma. I needed to stock up, since I guess I'll be sticking around..."

Dustin smiled, this time the decision felt right.

"Wait didn't Juicy-boy go to there earlier?" Chibs asked and I froze. Did Juice say something and this was just them slowly bring it up?

"Now that you mention it, I think he did," agreed Dustin, "But he came back in a shit mood with nothing in hand. When we about it all he said was that he tried to help someone and all he got for it was a punch to the face."

I fidgeted under their gaze and was thankful for Chibs breaking the short silence. "He also said that he hated the lasses," Chibs said chuckling, "I haven't seen Juicy-boy like this before."

Dustin leaned forward on the table, "You don't know anything about what he's talking about, would you?"

"Nope, didn't see him." I hastily answered. I tried to will myself to believe my answer, hoping that it could make me sound more believable.

"Tha boy will get over it, e'll be back to stealin' the panties o' tha gals in no time." Chibs said.

"That's fucked but true. Now what's going on with that swollen lip?" Dustin asked, pointing towards me.

My fingers shot up to the mentioned swollen lips, and I looked down for a moment. I was surprised at how perceptive Dustin was. There was so much about him that I didn't know.

"Did something happen to you?" Dustin asked.

I looked up with a smile on my face and let out a half-hearted laugh, "Oh, you're over thinking it. I was being clumsy and my car door connected with my lip when I opened it." I answered, trying to be convincing. I wasn't a very good liar and was often told that people could see right through each one I told.

"Be careful next time lass, or we might just assume some lad is harmin ye." Chibs said, obviously buying my cover up; thank god.

Dusty opened his mouth to say something more but my phone started buzzing inside my purse. I grabbed it off the table where I had placed it, "Sorry, I gotta answer this..."

"No worries, we got work to do anyways." Dustin said. I nodded and gave him a quick smile before heading outside to answer the call. I was saved from having to lie even further. Lying was not a foundation I wanted to build any kind of relationship with Dusty on.

**[Clay's PoV]**

Lately it seemed as if it was non-stop shit flying at us. Every time we cleaned up one fucked-up situation another two were created. After an emergency meeting about the unearthed bones out on 44, I was ready for things to calm down.

I was not enthused that Jax that had been the first to find out about the bodies, he was already starting to question our gun business. I didn't need him having another reason to question my leadership and the direction this club was going.

We had just finished prepping the Prospect on his training regimen for the big fight; no weed, no booze, and no pussy. Like I had expected, Half Sack was not please when the Nevada girl was taken from him. She was causing nothing but trouble for us, and I needed to see if she was true about only wanting the Prospect; if she was worth the trouble to keep around.

I ask Bobby to ask for her company, test her faithfulness. Part of me wanted her to be only about Half Sack but the other half of me, the mean and evil side, wanted her to accept Bobby's request. For the sake of Half Sack and my brothers I hoped that the sweetbutt chose the former. Yet if the girl gave in to Bobby's needs, that would calm Gemma down and put some ease back into my relationship.

After dealing with all club issues I wanted to check in with Gemma. I headed to the garage office where I knew she was working. The door was open and as I walked up I could see her sitting at the desk, mulling over some sort of paper for the garage. I smiled to myself; to this day I still thought she was gorgeous. When she heard me approaching she looked up from her work and returned the smile.

"The towns talking about the skulls that rolled outta that hole," Gemma said as she pulled off her glasses.

"I'm sure they are," I said. I was fully aware that these bones would cause a stir in Charming, another thing I wasn't happy about. Charming was very on-and-off about the presence of SAMCRO, this was sure to sway many towards the wrong side; not to mention bring the ATF dogs back.

"Have you thought about damage control?" She asked.

"Tig's the only one that knows the truth. Everybody else thinks all those bodies are Mayan..."

"And how do you stop that truth from spreading?"

"I got that covered, alright? Just don't worry. This shit stays in the rear-view mirror." I assured her. It was simple, Tig and I would get rid of the bodies; that way no one else would find out the truth about the past. I needed Jax to stay out of this one, which would prove to be difficult since we needed Jax's connection in St. Thomas

I looked out through the blinds at the garage yard, surveying what was going on outside. Jax was on the phone, hopefully asking Tara to help us get into the under levels of the hospital. I wasn't too pleased that he was coming, but Tara was our best bet for getting to the morgue and keep Jax from following us down there.

Then there was the newest residence of our club house; little Miss Manning. She too was on the phone and pacing around the lot. Dusty was a good friend of mine and a loyal member of the club, but I wasn't sure about his daughter. She came into down so unexpectedly that I couldn't help but wonder if she was running from or hiding something. What kind of metaphorical baggage was she packing?

"Manning's Daughter... You've been around her for a couple of times now, right?" I asked Gemma, still watching the activity through the window.

Gemma stood up from her seat and came to stand beside me, "Yeah, good kid. Why do you ask?"

I slipped my arm around her waist, pulling her to my side, "I'm not sure... I think there's more to her than just a girl looking to know her old man."

"Early today I saw Juice and her having a moment outside the grocery store. She seems to be making relationship with more than just her father..." Gemma mentioned. I knew she had a budding friendship with the prospect, especially since she helped the Nevada girl stick around.

"Juice? Really?" I asked after turning to look at her. I was surprised about Juice, he usually didn't take interest in girls other than a sweet but to satisfy some of his needs. "Was it anything serious? Something I need to squash? I don't need another Tara on my hands, she's already messing Jax up."

"I don't think so, Charlie seemed more annoyed with him than anything and it seems to be just at the begging of things. They were exchanging numbers, in real sweet kinda way. Besides, Charlie is very different than Tara, she grew up with the Tacoma charter. She knows what to expect and how things work. She's not a Tara type of problem." Gemma continued.

"Interesting... I wonder if she's the reason Juice came home with his panties in a knot. Either way I'll get Chibs to talk to him, they're close enough that Juice will tell him anything." I said.

I placed a kiss on Gemma's cheek before leaving her in the office. I walked out into the hot evening sun, causing my cut to feel heavy in the heat. Jax was heading towards me, his phone conversation finished.

"I talked to Trammel, San Joaquin County coroner's clearing space but the bones stay local tonight." Jax explained, this meant we had time.

"Good, now all we got to do is get into the lower level of the hospital. Have you talk to the ol'squeeze about hooking a brother up?" I asked.

"Not yet, I'll see what I can do." Jax replied before walking off to take care of business.

Just as Jax was leaving I was distracted by Lowell. He had brought his kid to the garage and wanted to make sure it was okay with me. A quick shot of guilt rushed through me as I saw Lowell's face brighten up as I told him it was fine. I had taken him under my wing for selfish reasons but that hadn't ridden me of the small guilt I felt towards him. Lowell was so naïve about something's but had a heart of gold, when he wasn't drugged out. I hopped that the truth about the bones didn't end up coming out, the secret behind them would push Lowell back into a full blown drug addiction.

On my way back into the club house I passed Chibs instructing the Prospect, who had a fowl expression on his face. He was still pissed about having his sweetbutt taken away.

I whistled towards the pair to gain their attention, "Chibs..." I called out.

He left the Prospect with some orders, snatched up his beer and walked over to where I was waiting. "How's the Prospect taking his new training regulations?" I asked.

"Badly. He's not liking that his sweetbutt was taken away."

"Too bad, we've got too much money riding on him. She's just a distraction to him."

Chibs nodded, "I agree. But I'll have him in tip-top shape in no time, he'll be ready."

"I'm counting on it," I said, "I have something else to ask you about."

"What is it?" Chibs asked.

I sat down on the picnic bench behind me and Chibs followed suit, "I need you to talk to Juice, find out some information..."

"Juicy-boy? Why, wha'd he do?"

"Nothing. I'm more interested in the newest lady on the lot and I need to find out some information. Gemma mentioned seeing them together earlier," I explained.

"She was talking to her da' and just a moment ago. We asked if she knew about Juicy-boy's foul mood earlier. She said she didn't know anything about it." He said.

"The two apparently exchanged phone numbers."

"Are you sure about that? When we went to gather the guns from the shit truck she seemed more annoyed with him than friendly." Chibs questioned.

"I'm sure. I think there's more to her than what she's letting on and I want to know what she could be hiding."

"I'll talk to the boy, see what he says but Clay... I think yer over thinkin' the gal. She's a sweet lass once you sit and talk to her. And she's Dusty's daughter, there's nae much you can do, he's become protective of the gal..."

"I know, I know. I just want to make sure I know everything..." I said before standing up and walking away.

Later on, after the sun had set and the day was coming to an end; Jax, Tig, and myself headed to the hospital. I sent Jax and Tig to find Tara to see if we can get access to the lower levels. Jax hadn't been able to reach her by phone so he went to check if she was in the staff lounge.

While I waited for the guys to collect Tara, I waited with Abel. The kid was growing stronger each day, giving that he was born with a hole in his stomach and heart. The kid was still tiny, he had a long way to go before he could handle a bike but I knew he would get there. Ever since the little guy was born something had changed in Jax and it was affecting my club.

Before long I heard the door open and Jax walked in and I looked up from the incubation chamber that Abel was in. Jax was smiling and I hoped that it meant things went well.

"I managed to steal a key card from an intern, so hopefully it gets us below." Jax said, producing the mentioned key card.

I took the card from him and looked it over, "Yeah, Tig and I will take care of this. Why don't you stay up here and run interference," I suggested.

Jax looked confused at my suggestion and was about to question it when Tara walked in. "Hey doc," I greeted.

"Hey," she replied.

"He looks strong, huh?" I stated, trying to make small talk.

"Yeah."

An awkward silence fell among us, there wasn't much for me to say to her and neither her to me.

"Well you have a good night, alright?" I announced, smiling at Tara.

I patted her shoulder as I passed, eager to get out of that room. I shut the door behind me, shoving the key card into my pocket; I didn't need that to be snatched away. Now if only Jax would keep out of the morgue, everything would go smoothly.

**[Jax POV] **

When Clay walked out of the room, the awkward tension left with him. Tara and I shared a quick smile before we both looked down at my son. He was doing so well, considering everything that has happened to him; I couldn't be more proud of my tiny son.

"A nurse said you wanted to see me?" Tara ask, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I was just checking in. You okay?"

"Yeah, I talked to Hale. He assured me Joshua was leaving," She explained, "Thanks for... Handling that."

I could tell that Tara was still a bit cautious of her situation, not ready to believe that the asshole was really leaving. The smile she had one her face as she thanked me was a transparent as the glass encasing my son. Tara and I hadn't been together for a long time but I still could read her just as easily.

"You're welcome. You don't have to worry about that guy anymore," I assured her. If the perverted cop came around her again I would personally make sure he left Charming, and not in a comfortable squad car.

Shortly after Tara was called away by a nurse, she was still on duty so she couldn't really sit and chat, I waved goodbye as she left the room. Since Tara had left and I didn't need to distract her, I figured I'd head down to see if the guy's needed help. Three pairs of hands would get the job done faster.

Cautiously I made my way to the lower level where the morgue was located. I crept towards the door, looking through the small windows. I knocked on the door to get Clay and Tig's attention. The look that Clay gave me before opening the door made me suspect that something was going on down here.

"I thought I told you to wait upstairs." Clay barked.

"Well there's was no interference to run, and I figured you could use the extra pair of hands. That alright?" I explained. Clay's determination to keep me out of this room made me suspicious.

"I got them..." Tig called out, breaking Clay's and my stare down. "All three of them."

Tig pulled out the drawers that the bones were laying on, pulling out a pair of large pliers and told Clay to hold the head. Clay moved to the end and did as Tig asked, holding on to the skull with gloved hands as Tig positioned the pliers

Just before Tig pulled I glanced inside the chamber of the bones next to this one and saw a piece of paper hanging down. "Hey wait a minute, wait a minute. It's already been I.D-ed"

Moving around the pull-out drawer I reached in a grabbed the I.D tag, reading what was written on it. I looked up at the pair and stared at them for a moment, reading their faces. I had been right, there was more to the story of the bones than Clay was letting on.

"Lowell Harland, Sr.?" I asked rhetorically. The two looked away, admitting their guilt about the identification. "This is Lowell's old man..." What could have happened that Lowell's old man was buried with two Mexican's.

Since the bodies had already been tagged, there wasn't a point in us destroying them. Therefore we, in silence, pushed the bones back into their chambers and I followed Clay out into the silent hallway. I wanted some answers and I wanted them now. Outside Clay rested against the wall but remained silent

"Why was Lowell's dad buried with the enemy?" I asked him straight up.

"Casualty of war," Clay answered while still looking down, still avoided my sight, "The Mayan's took him out," finally he looked up.

"He worked at T-M, he wasn't a patch..." I started but was cut off.

"The Mayan's went after everybody, Family, friends; it didn't matter."

"Lowell thinks his dad's still alive," I pointed out, "Poor bastard's convinced he's still out there."

"I know."

"So why the same grave?" I pushed for answers.

"Disrespect, I know... It was a crazy two years, I didn't have a lot of time to think shit through," He answered, and everything started to make sense.

"Is that why you didn't want me in the morgue? To protect that secret?" I asked, grilling him for answers.

Clay let out a sound of annoyance before turning and walking away, "I don't have any secrets from you."

I found that very hard to believe, Clay had a bunch of years to create secrets before I was inside the club. I highly doubt he would have opened it all up to me the moment I wore the leather cut on my back.

Before he entered the elevator doors, I called out, "You know, with the Mayan's I.D.-ed too, I can only imagine the poison that Hale's going to pour in Lowell's ear"

"I'll handle Lowell..." He said without looking at me and entered the elevator.

I stood in the hall way for a moment, mulling over everything I had found out. I knew that nothing good would come from Hale knowing about who had been buried in that grave. I could only assume that Clay would spin some sort of lie to get Lowell to deny everything Hale could tell him. All this meant was more lies for Clay to keep straight, and it was only a matter of time before it call came out.


End file.
